KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's lacrosse team started off its season in the win column with a close victory over Chestnut Hill College, 13-12, in a non-conference battle on Saturday at Andre Reed Stadium.
The Golden Bear offense was led by
Makayla Bowman (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), who scored a career-high five goals – all in the first half. Not far behind was
Lauren Huggins (Media, Pa./Penncrest), who notched three goals while also dishing out an assist. Huggins was a ball hawk for the Maroon and Gold as she turned in a team-high five groundballs, one shy of tying her career-high.
Sophomore
Emily Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Hubert Catholic) netted two goals for the Golden Bears while also picking up four groundballs and a caused turnover.
The remaining goals were scored by
Madison Carlucci (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley),
Emily Leeb (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) and
Destanee Watkins (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus). It was the first career goal for both Leeb and Watkins.
The beginning of the first half was extremely back-and-forth between the Golden Bears and the Griffins, who were locked up at three apiece with 17:11 left in the first half.
Kutztown went on an offensive surge after this, scoring six unanswered goals to bring the score to 9-3. A late Chestnut Hill strike brought the score to 9-4 to end the first half.
Chestnut Hill came out swinging in the second half with three straight goals to cut the deficit to two (9-7). Kutztown quickly responded to bring the score to 10-7.
Soon thereafter, Kutztown found itself with a 13-9 lead with 14:06 left. Chestnut Hill started to rally only 24 seconds later to keep the comeback hopes alive.
Locked at 13-10, the game was at a stalemate with both teams trading possessions, but the Griffins notched two goals late in the game, scoring with 2:12 and 0:26 remaining, bringing the score to 13-12.
A huge draw-control after the score would be won by Chestnut Hill, but the Golden Bears were able to draw a foul to retake possession and run out the clock.
Courtney O'Neill (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) led the defense with four caused turnovers along with four groundballs.
Abby Cox (York, Pa./West York) played all 60 minutes in net and picked up eight saves.
The Golden Bears will have a week-long break until facing off against Felician University on Saturday, March 4. The game is set to start at 12 p.m. at Keystone Field.
