The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team hosted the Athenas of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday during Senior Night at Farquhar Field. After honoring an exemplary class of eight, the Bulldogs battled it out with the Athenas but fell short in a 9-14 decision.
After CMS jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Redlands answered with three-consecutive goals of its own to even the score. Early in the rally, senior defender Angelyn Brown (Danville, CA) forced the visitors into a turnover, which set up senior midfielder Sam Keary's (Mission Viejo, CA) goal. Senior midfielder Stephanie Garrett (San Diego, CA) and freshman midfielder Hanna Morford (West Linn, OR) completed the scoring spurt with a netter apiece.
The teams traded goals over the next few minutes, with junior attack player Dulce Moll (Mercer Island, WA) offering her second assist in a row, as she found sophomore midfielder Lacey Bjorndal (Sherwood, OR) to make it 4-4.
Unfortunately, Redlands saw the even tally slip away, as the Athenas closed out the first half on a 3-1 run. The Bulldogs' final goal came off the stick of Moll on a free-position shot.
During the second stanza, CMS garnered a four-goal lead but the Maroon and Gray remained relentless by cutting the deficit to two on two occasions. Down by a score of 7-11 with 21 minutes to go, Redlands rallied with back-to-back netters, as senior midfielder Ellen Holt (Happy Valley, OR) and Morford each fired one past the Athena goalkeeper. Moll registered her third assist of the game with a nice bang-bang play on Morford's goal.
However, the rally fell short, as CMS finished out the game on a three-goal outburst for the 14-9 decision.
Senior Izzy Baez (Zionsville, IN) and sophomore Quinn Egan (Greenwood Village, CO) shared time in the Redlands cage, recording seven and two saves, respectively. In addition, they received solid support from the defensive line of seniors Emily Bilenduke (Breckenridge, CO), Grace Martin (Portland, OR), Jessica Jackson (Poway, CA), and Brown.
Redlands (10-7, 4-6 SCIAC) enjoys a weekend off from competition in order to celebrate commencement but returns to action on Wednesday, April 27, when it hosts the No. 5 seed on Farquhar Field at 7 p.m.
