The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team finished out the dual-match season with a 16-10 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) victory over the visiting Tigers of Occidental College on Sunday at Farquhar Field. With the win, Redlands enters the 2011 SCIAC Championship Tournament as the No. 2 seed.
The Bulldogs erupted for four unanswered goals to earn an early lead that held up through the final whistle. Senior midfielder Christy Smith (St. Louis Park, MN) found junior midfielder Megan Prickett (Poway, CA) just 43 seconds into the game for the initial score. Smith built upon the Maroon and Gray's early advantage by uncorking an interrupted hat trick during the next six minutes.
Despite a 7-3 lead at halftime, Redlands faced a more energized and effective Tiger squad during the second stanza. Occidental made it a 6-9 game with back-to-back scores by sophomore attack player Isabel Osgood-Roach (Portland, OR) during the opening eight minutes.
However, the Bulldogs kept any Tiger comeback efforts in check by rattling off five straight goals through the 19th minute of the period. During this stretch, sophomore attack player Aimee Dewan (Alamo, CA) found the back of the net twice, while Smith provided two assists for Redlands.
Although Occidental scored three of the game's final netters, Redlands' victory was never in question.
Freshman midfielder Jacky Craycraft (Lake Forest, CA) led the Bulldogs with four goals, all of which came in the second half, to go along with four draw controls and one assist.
Smith supplied a game-high seven points with three goals and four assists. She also added three draw controls and three ground balls.
Sophomore midfielder Katie Colasurdo (Eugene, OR) offered a well-balanced stat line with four ground balls and a goal, assist, caused turnover and draw control.
Junior goalkeeper Ana Martinez (Pleasanton, CA) recorded 13 saves in a complete-game effort. This performance ranks as her second-most for the 2011 season.
Osgood-Roach and sophomore midfielder Sarah Kessler (Portland, OR) co-led the Tiger offense with a hat trick each.
After being rained out in February, the teams' only mutually agreeable option to reschedule the contest fell on Easter night.
According to the rotation of hosts, the Bulldogs (12-3, 5-3 SCIAC) welcome the other teams to Farquhar Field for the 2011 SCIAC Championship Tournament on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The title game takes place on Sunday at 1 p.m. Please check www.goredlands.com for more details.