PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - A late first half run gave Holy Family a six goal halftime lead over the Wilmington University women's lacrosse team in a 17-9 loss which effectively eliminates the Wildcats from Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference playoff contention on Thursday at Tiger Field.
Tied at 4-4 after Megan Keffer scored the first of her two goals on the afternoon, the Tigers (8-5, 5-2 CACC) scored six straight and seven of the next eight goals to close out the first half, taking an 11-5 lead into the break. The Wildcats (2-11, 2-5 CACC), sitting two games behind the Tigers at the beginning of the day, needed the conference victory to stay in the playoff hunt. The loss drops the Wildcats back to three games behind Holy Family with three to play while the Tigers now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, winning both games this season.
The Tigers broke the tie with a goal by Brigit LaRose with 10:09 to play in the first half and continued to score five more over the course of 4:56 of game play to open a 10-4 lead. After Liz Case ended the rally with her second goal of the game to bring the Wildcats to within five at 10-5, the Tigers ended the half on top, breaking the backs of the Wildcats with a goal with 12 seconds remaining on the clock to go into the break, 11-5.
After over six minutes of scoreless action to begin the second half, the Tigers opened the scoring with back-to-back goals to push the lead out to eight goals, the largest of the game.
The Wildcats attempted to come back, but could only get within six the rest of the way, as Jaclyn Hall and Keffer, and then Hall and Molly Taylor scored back-to-back goals but it wasn't enough as the Tigers thwarted any comeback with a pair of goals themselves in between the Wildcats pair.
Holy Family outshot the Wildcats 37-17 for the game, including a 23-10 advantage in the first half. The Tigers also picked up more ground balls, 28-13, and controlled more draws, 17-11, then the Wildcats. Wilmington also did not have a free-position shot for the entire 60 minutes.
Jaclyn Hall led the offense with three goals while both Keffer and Case recorded two goals and an assist for three points. Rebekah McCurry and Taylor accounted for the other two Wildcat goals,
Kaitlyn Hall recorded 11 saves in goal for the Wildcats while counterpart Grace Deckert needed to make six saves for the victory for the Tigers.
Wilmington remains on the road for the rest of the 2013 season, next heading to North Division foe Dominican for their only meeting of the year. The two will play on Saturday in Orangeburg, N.Y., starting at 12 p.m.