NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University women's lacrosse team advanced to the CACC Tournament Semifinal for the second tournament in a row with a 25-10 victory over sixth seeded Holy Family in the First Round on Wednesday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
With the win, the No. 3 Wildcats (6-4) will head to No. 2 Jefferson on Friday in the CACC Tournament Semifinals. The two squared off in the 2019 CACC Semifinals as well, with the Rams escaping with a 13-12 overtime victory. Friday's Semifinal will start at 2:00 p.m. at Ravenhill Field in Philadelphia.
On Wednesday, the Wildcats used a 7-0 run to break away from the Tigers (2-7) and turn a 6-5 lead into a 13-5 lead with 5:01 left in the first half. The Tigers closed the gap to 14-8 at the halftime break.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a 6-1 run to take control of the First Round contest.
The game started with the Wildcats scoring the first four goals, using four different goal scorers to race out to the early lead. But the Tigers responded with the next three goals to climb back in the game. The teams traded the next four goals, with Holy Family getting to within 6-5 with 15:56 left in the opening half.
Brooke Siebert than started the 7-0 spurt with a free position goal, and then followed it up with her second goal off a feed from Taylor Lambeth to make it 8-5 with 12:03 to play. Then five different Wildcats scored during the run, getting goals from Amelie Gamache, Makenzie Stritzinger, Maris Allen, Riley McQuaide, and Maddie Day, with Day's goal giving the Wildcats the 13-5 lead with 5:01 showing on the clock.
Taylor Lambeth and Maddie Day started the second half off with back-to-back goals, but then Holy Family scored to close the gap to 16-9. But the Wildcats ended any thoughts of a Tigers rally with four straight goals, getting marks from Stritzinger, Day, Lambeth, and McQuaide to take a 20-9 lead with 15:00 left in regulation.
Maddie Day scored back-to-back goals before Brooke Siebert converted a free position shot with 7:38 to play. Taylor Lambeth scored on the man-advantage and then capped the scoring with 41 seconds left to settle the score, 25-10.
The 25 goals tied the program record for the Wildcats, as they also scored 25 goals earlier this season at Caldwell.
Taylor Lambeth led the offense with six goals and three assists while Maddie Day also finished with six goals and added an assist for seven points. Riley McQuaide scored four goals with an assist while Makenzie Stritzinger scored three goals and an assist. Brookie Siebert scored three goals while grabbing seven draws and causing two turnovers. Maris Allen scored two goals and added an assist while Amelie Gamache scored once and led the team with three assists.
Defensively, Marisa Swanson scooped up five ground balls and had four caused turnovers. Makenzie Stritzinger had four caused turnovers while Casey Johnson added a pair of caused turnovers as well. Tori Grubowski recorded 12 saves in the win.
Following the win, the Wildcats honored its three seniors, Brookie Siebert, Maris Allen, and Casey Johnson during Senior Day ceremonies.
