Copyright 2016; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. File photo of Sara LeBrun by Frank Stallworth.
LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - The Wilmington University women's lacrosse season came to a close on Tuesday afternoon in the First Round of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament, as third seeded Georgian Court downed the sixth seeded Wildcats, 22-11, at the GCU Track & Field Complex.
Senior Sara LeBrun registered her 100th career goal, leading the Wildcats (4-12) with six overall but it wasn't enough as the Lions (7-11) used multiple small runs of four consecutive goals in the first half to seize control.
Junior Gabby Spalt put the Wildcats on the board in the sixth minute of the game before LeBrun made it back-to-back goals for the Wildcats with her first mark of the game with 24:12 remaining. That cut the Lion deficit to 3-2 in the early going.
But the Lions answered with four straight goals to, with two of them coming on man-advantages, to take a 7-2 lead with 21:45 left in the first half. The team's traded goals over the next four minutes, with Megan Card and Spalt lighting the lamp to bring the visitors to within 8-4. But another four straight goals came for the Lions, as a free position goal put the home team ahead, 12-4, with 9:51 showing on the clock.
LeBrun scored the next four goals for the Wildcats to end the first half, but the Lions only allowed her to close the gap to as few as 15-8, scoring three goals during the same span.
La'Dae Boykin got on the board with 24:16 to play in regulation, but Xena Valenzuela scored back-to-back goals for the Lions to expand the lead to 18-9 with 20:11 left in regulation. LeBrun tallied her sixth and final goal of the game off a feed from Boykin to cut the deficit to eight goals, but the Lions answered with another four-goal spurt to widen the margin out to as many as 22-10. Sam Foster capped the scoring with her lone goal of the game for the Wildcats with 1:32 left to play.
LeBrun added two draw controls in the game while Spalt scored two goals and dished out two assists. Boykin scored once and added a team high four assists while picking up one ground ball and adding two draw controls. Card led the team with three draws while also adding two ground balls.
The Wildcats narrowly trailed the Lions, 16-14, in draw controls, but turned the ball over 19 times to the Lions' 11. The Lions also had eight free position shots, scoring on five occasions while the Wildcats only went 1-for-3.
LeBrun, the lone senior on the squad, finishes her career with 102 goals and seven assists for 109 points. She became the seventh player in program history to score 100 goals in her career. She is the all-time leader in scoring 3.19 goals per game for her two year career.