The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team traveled to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Saturday morning and defeated the Sagehens in overtime, 14-12, capturing the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title in the process. For the Bulldogs, it is their third SCIAC Championship in three years, and the 2014 title undoubtedly came in dramatic fashion.
With an accumulation of points from the dual matches and the tournament results, the Bulldogs accumulated 16 points overall, while Pomona-Pitzer ended up with 15.
The Maroon and Gray actually fell behind early in the contest and trailed 1-5 after 10 minutes. The Bulldogs responded with four-straight scores, tying the contest at 5-5 with 4:56 remaining in the first half. Sophomore midfielder Stephanie Garrett (San Diego, CA) scored a pair of free-position shots during that stretch, while freshman attack player Dulce Moll (Mercer Island, WA) and senior midfielder Jacky Craycraft (Trabuco Canyon, CA) each added one as well.
The two sides traded goals during the final few minutes of the first stanza, and at the halftime break, the score was tied at 7-7.
With goals coming at a premium during the second half for both teams, Garrett and senior attack player KK McCaslin (Portland, OR) combined for three goals for the Bulldogs to give the U of R a 10-9 lead with 8:30 left in regulation. The Sagehens rallied, however, and came up with the tying goal with six seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Grabbing the draw control to begin the overtime stanza, Garrett took the ball all of the way to goal and fired past the Pomona-Pitzer goalkeeper to help Redlands regain the lead. Senior attack player Allie Hoffler (Draper, UT) followed that up with an unassisted goal less than a minute later, pushing the lead to 12-10. Craycraft made it a three-goal lead when she found the back of the net off of a nice feed from Hoffler, and after the Sagehens pulled one back, freshman midfielder Breanne Rideout (San Diego, CA) scored for the Bulldogs to keep the advantage at three.
While Pomona-Pitzer did score once more, Redlands was able to gain possession and keep the ball away from the Sagehens for the majority of the remaining time in the extra period, ultimately resulting in the SCIAC Championship win for Redlands.
Garrett led the way for the Maroon and Gray all game long, scoring a team-best five goals while also dishing out two assists and racking up an incredible nine draw-controls. McCaslin also provided the Maroon and Gray with a solid performance, scoring a hat-trick and nabbing two ground balls and one draw-control.
Coming in as a second-half substitution, freshman goalkeeper Gigja Hollyday (Aliso Viejo, CA) played phenomenally between the pipes, making seven big time saves while earning the victory.
The U of R (13-4, 10-2 SCIAC) remains optimistic for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships and looks forward to Sunday's announcement at 6:30 p.m. on the NCAA website.
