BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - - Trailing 10-8 at the halftime break, the Wilmington University women's lacrosse team battled back to defeat Bridgeport, 17-14, in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference match on Tuesday at Knights Field.
The Wildcats (9-4, 5-1 CACC) outscored the Knights (5-5, 4-2, CACC), 6-1, in the third quarter to take a 14-11 lead in route to their fifth straight CACC win.
Trailing 3-2 late in the first quarter, Ella Royer, Ella Baynes, and Maddie Day scored the final three goals of the to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead going into the second.
After Ella Royer scored back-to-back goals to give the Wildcats a 7-4 lead with 9:31 to play in the second quarter, the Purple Knights scored five straight to take a 9-7 lead. Amelie Gamache stopped the Bridgeport run with a goal, but then the Purple Knights scored the final goal of the half to take a 10-8 lead into the halftime break.
Free position goals by Lauren Gresham and Maddie Day gave the Wildcats the first two goals and then Ella Royer, Alea Javorowsky, Maddie Day, and Amelie Gamache all scored, making it six straight to start the third quarter. The Wildcats led 14-11 after the third quarter, winning the quarter, 6-1.
Bridgeport scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to close the gap to 14-13, but then back-to-back man-advantage goals by Maddie Day swung the momentum back in favor of the Wildcats. Ella Baynes made it 17-13, with four minutes to play before Bridgeport scored the final goal with 16 seconds left to cap the scoring, 17-14.
Maddie Day led the Wildcats with six goals, closing to within two goals of tying the program's all-time mark of 179 goals scored by La'Dae Boykin from 2015-18.
Ella Royer scored four goals while adding two assists, six draws, and four ground balls. Ella Bayned scored three goals while Amelie Gamache scored two goals, dished out three assists, and scooped up five ground balls. Alea Javorowsky scored a goal while adding four assists. Makenzie Stritzinger led with a game high 10 draw controls. Katie Vindigni made 12 saves in the win.
The Wildcats take their five-game winning streak into Senior Day on Saturday, as they host Felician at the WU Athletics Complex. The first draw is set for 11:00 a.m.