With Saturday's 10-5 win over the visiting Panthers of Chapman University, the University of Redlands women's lacrosse team captured the 2013 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship Tournament title while also securing the regular-season championship for the second year in a row. With an accumulation of points from the dual matches and the tournament results, the Bulldogs garnered 16 points to the second-place Panthers' 13.
In tonight's regular-season finale, Chapman's Lauren Mah initiated the scoring on a free-position shot less than five minutes into the contest.
A back-and-forth battle ensued, leading to a two-all tie with 17:35 remaining in the first half.
However, sophomore midfielder Emily Dalrymple (Snohomish, WA) scored off of a pass from freshman midfielder Stephanie Garrett (San Diego, CA) just 28 seconds after entering the game midway through the frame.
One minute later, senior attack player Aimee Dewan (Alamo, CA) fired off her second goal of the game before completing her first-half hat-trick by the 7:37-mark. Redlands then bolstered its lead to 6-2 when Hoffler dished out a scoring pass to junior midfielder Jacky Craycraft (Trabuco Canyon, CA) with seven minutes to go in the first half.
However, Chapman continued to battle, cutting the deficit to two with back-to-back goals to start the second stanza. Kelsey Mackin and Allie Kontny fired off scores for the Panthers during the first 13 minutes of the period, while goalkeeper Anjali Thota stepped up defensively to make three of her 10 saves for the game.
But Dewan and Hoffler combined forces to end Redlands' nearly 20-minute scoring drought with another impressive bang-bang play.
About four minutes later, the duo beautifully executed the same play, leading to an 8-4 Redlands advantage.
From this point on, Chapman opted to pull Thota from the cage to serve as another field player on defense while double-teaming the Bulldogs with hopes of forcing a turnover. With 6:49 remaining, the Panthers' plan was profitable as Redlands threw the ball away, which led to a quick score by Abbey Messmer.
Next time down the field, though, the Maroon and Gray capitalized on the open net, as freshman midfielder Ellen Holt (Portland, OR) uncorked a wide-open goal.
Garrett capped off the 10-goal outing for the Bulldogs with an unassisted score with nine seconds remaining in the second stanza.
Overall, Dewan and Hoffler led the Bulldog offense with an impressive combination play that provided an exciting spark to the game. Hoffler dished out five assists, finding Dewan on four occasions, while Dewan unleashed a season-tying five goals.
Chapman won the draw-control battle by an 11-5 margin, but the Panthers also coughed up 13 more turnovers, eight of which were caused by Redlands. Junior attack player KK McCaslin (Portland, OR) forced three on behalf of the Bulldogs.
Both goalkeepers came up with impressive plays while providing influential contributions throughout the game. For Chapman, Thota racked up 10 saves, while Redlands' graduate student goalkeeper Ana Martinez (Pleasanton, CA) came up with six.
Redlands (15-4, 11-1 SCIAC) remains optimistic for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships and looks forward to Sunday's announcement on www.ncaa.com.
