The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team returned to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competition on Saturday with an afternoon showdown against the Athenas of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. Amidst a tight and intense battle, the Bulldogs rallied in overtime to secure a hard-fought 15-13 victory while handing the Athenas their second-consecutive loss of the season.
The teams traded scores throughout the opening nine minutes before CMS fired off four-straight goals to take a 6-3 lead.
Five minutes later, Redlands faced a four-goal deficit but quickly responded with a 4-1 run with four different goal-scorers to finish the first half trailing by one at 8-9. Junior midfielder Stephanie Garrett (San Diego, CA) and junior midfielder Ellen Holt (Happy Valley, OR) bookended the rally on successful free-position shots, while freshman attack Katy Miele (Rumson, NJ) and sophomore midfielder Breanne Rideout (San Diego, CA) each found the back of the net for the Bulldogs. Holt's crucial netter came just eight seconds before halftime.
During the second half, sophomore attack Dulce Moll (Mercer Islands, WA) set the tone early for the Maroon and Gray by notching back-to-back scores in a four-minute span, which resulted in Redlands' first lead of the day.
However, the back-and-forth trend of the contest continued, as the teams answered each other offensively to keep it close.
Moll and Rideout combined scoring efforts midway through the period to provide a slight Bulldog edge at 13-11 with 15:36 remaining.
But the Athenas refused to go way, eventually knotting the tally at 13 apiece while keeping the Maroon and Gray off the scoreboard to force overtime.
Redlands stepped up in the extra frame to secure the exciting win, with freshman midfielder Lacey Bjorndal (Sherwood, OR) registering her second score of the game and Garrett hitting the back of the net on another free-position shot. The Bulldog defense held the Athenas scoreless in the final six minutes of competition, providing the necessary edge for the victory.
Freshman goalkeeper Quinn Egan (Greenwood Village, CO) patrolled the cage for seven stops in her 36 minutes of action. Garrett smothered CMS with five caused turnovers, while junior defender Sam Keary (Mission Viejo, CA) and Rideout forced the Athenas into two turnovers each.
Moll led the Bulldogs' offense with four goals on five shots, while Garrett provided three assists and three goals, to go along with six draw controls.
Redlands (7-3, 4-2 SCIAC) travels to Colorado Springs for a pair of non-conference games, beginning on Friday, March 27, with an 11 a.m. match against Carthage College (WI), which will be played on the campus of Colorado College.