The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team took to the road for the first time in nearly a month by making the trek to Occidental College for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match against the Tigers. After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, the Bulldogs battled through a tight first half but faced a three-goal deficit at the break and never fully recovered en route to the 11-16 loss.
After junior defender Denise Guerrero (Glendale, CA) hauled in a ground ball at the 28:32-mark of the first half, the Bulldogs moved the ball downfield to set up freshman midfielder Sadie Pickering's (Tacoma, WA) free-position goal to put Redlands on the board.
Less than two minutes later, sophomore midfielder Hanna Morford (West Linn, OR) initiated another offensive possession with a ground ball of her own that allowed Pickering to fire off a shot that forced the Tiger goalkeeper to make a save. After Pickering snagged the subsequent loose ball, the Bulldogs worked the ball around until senior attack player Dulce Moll (Mercer Island, WA) successfully dished out the assist for sophomore attack player Adi Fellows' (Albuquerque, NM) first goal of the night and the Bulldogs' 2-0 lead.
Freshman defender Paige Koenig (Centennial, CO) made an important contribution by grabbing the ground ball at the 23:54-mark, which led to Pickering's netter off of Morford's assist to make it a 3-0 advantage for the Maroon and Gray.
Following an Oxy timeout, the Tigers roared back to life to eventually overtake the Bulldogs with five-straight goals.
Not to be outdone, Redlands remained persistent with possession off of ground balls, as Moll made the play with 15:28 left on the first-half clock. The subsequent yellow card against the Tigers inspired a successful free-position goal by Moll to cut the deficit in half.
Less than two minutes later, Redlands tied it up off of the stick of Pickering for her third goal of the night.
Tough defense and excellent awareness on the field led to the Bulldogs' 6-5 advantage with 8:27 to go in the opening frame. After recovering a missed shot, freshman attack player Charly Walter (Bethesda, MD) found Morford for the critical goal.
The final six minutes of the period saw a fury of scoring, as the teams unleashed six goals collectively, with Moll tallying the only one for the Maroon and Gray. At the break, Redlands faced a slight 7-10 deficit.
Although Moll, Pickering, and junior midfielder Lacey Bjorndal (Sherwood, OR) each added scores in the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Bulldogs continued to face a two-goal-minimum hole throughout the frame and ultimately lost this one by a score of 11-16.
Pickering and Moll combined for eight of Redlands' goals, while senior midfielder Breanne Rideout (San Diego, CA) and Moll each distributed two assists. Moll also paced the Bulldogs with four ground balls.
Junior goalkeeper Quinn Egan (Greenwood Village, CO) put in a complete-game effort as the team's last line of defense by making nine saves.
Redlands (6-2, 2-2 SCIAC) returns home to the friendly confines of Farquhar Field on Thursday, March 30, for a non-conference tilt against George Fox University (OR) at 1 p.m.
