The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team squared off against the Tigers of Colorado College in a non-conference showdown on Farquhar Field on Sunday afternoon. Despite facing a 10-goal deficit early in the second stanza, the Bulldogs battled back by firing off four-straight goals. However, Colorado College responded to keep Redlands from completing the comeback and handed the home team a 12-19 loss.
After the Tigers jumped on the board during their opening possession, the Maroon and Gray evened the tally by taking the ball coast-to-coast to set up junior midfielder Breanne Rideout's (San Diego, CA) goal off of freshman midfielder Hanna Morford's (West Linn, OR) assist.
But Colorado responded with back-to-back netters to take a 3-1 lead less than eight minutes into the contest.
Senior midfielder Sam Keary (Mission Viejo, CA) worked to create a change in the momentum by causing a Tiger turnover and picking up the ground ball, before earning a free-position shot on the other end of the field. Without any hesitation, she converted that into a goal to make it a 2-3 contest with 20:45 left on the first-half clock.
The Tigers' offense heated up over the remainder of the frame and closed it out on an 8-2 run. Redlands' Morford kept the Bulldogs within striking distance with a pair of scores, with the first coming off the stick of junior attack player Dulce Moll (Mercer Island, WA).
Colorado continued to press on the gas pedal and extended its lead to 10 goals with 18:06 left in the game.
However, the Bulldogs refused to go away and fired off four-straight goals to cut the deficit to six with 13:19 remaining. Moll, senior midfielder Stephanie Garret (San Diego, CA), and sophomore midfielder Lacey Bjorndal (Sherwood, OR) each found the back of the net during this spurt.
But the Tigers made the necessary adjustments to turn back the persistent Bulldogs, leading to the 12-19 loss.
Garrett and Moll finished out the game with one more score apiece.
Senior goalkeeper Izzy Baez (Zionsville, IN) earned the start for today's game, registering seven saves in 42:19 of action. Sophomore goalkeeper Quinn Egan (Greenwood Village, CO) replaced her late in the game and recorded two stops in the final 17:41.
Redlands stepped up its overall defense by forcing 15 of the 30 Tiger turnovers, with Keary leading the charge with four caused turnovers and Garrett providing three. Keary also racked up seven ground balls.
The Bulldogs pulled in 14 draw controls, with Garrett corralling nine to lead the team.
Redlands (3-4) takes on Meiji University (Tokyo) on Monday, March 14, in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Farquhar Field.