NEWARK, Del. - - Despite outshooting its opponent, the Wilmington University women's lacrosse team dropped a 14-8 nonconference contest to Alderson-Broaddus on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Wildcats (1-4) fought back with a pair of late goals in the first half to close the gap to a single goal, but the Battlers (4-1) turned it on in the second half and outscored the Wildcats, 5-0, to come away with the victory.
Alderson-Broaddus led by as many as 6-3 with 13 minutes left in the first half before the Wildcats received goals from Lashay Ross, Megan Card, and Gabby Spalt to tie the contest, 6-6 with 8:19 showing on the clock. The Battlers responded with three consecutive goals of their own to move ahead 9-6 with 1:31 to play before the break.
Spalt took a feed from Auryonah Nash and beat the Battler netminder to break up the streak of goals from the visitors with only 55 seconds before the break. La'Dae Boykin won the ensuing draw control to give the Wildcats another possession, and Ross paid it off by finishing a feed from Card to cut the deficit to 9-8 with 17 seconds left. Ross then gained possession of the ensuing draw control and raced toward the net with a head of steam, but her shot was wide left with eight seconds showing on the clock.
Out of the break, the Wildcats won more draw controls, 4-2, in the second half, but it was the Battlers were able to find the back of the net. They extended their lead with goals at the 25:24 and 20:08 mark to regain an 11-8 lead. The Wildcats were able to get 10 shots off in the second half alone, but Alderson-Broaddus goalkeeper Fallyn Gonzales came up with eight second half saves to keep the Wildcats off the board.
The Battlers continued to add to the lead, scoring goals with 13:18 and 11:23 left before finishing off the scoring on Saturday with a goal at the 2:56 mark of the second half.
Card led the Wildcats with three points, scoring two goals while adding an assist. She also tied for the team lead with five ground balls while leading the team with five draw controls. Ross and Spalt scored two goals each while also adding three ground balls each. Ross was second on the team with four draws in the game.
Maddie Hurm made 10 stops for the Wildcats while Gonzales finished with 13 saves for the Battlers. The Wildcats outshot the Battlers, 28-27, for the game, but went 1-for-11 on free position shots.
Friday was the first of four straight home games for the Wildcats as they next play Merrimack on Thursday at the WU Athletics Complex. The opening draw is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
