The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team suffered a heartbreaking 10-11 loss to Occidental College during Wednesday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match in Eagle Rock. Although the Bulldogs rallied back from five goals down to tie it up, the Tigers capitalized on a late opportunity to score the winning goal with six seconds left in the game, resulting in the difficult loss for Redlands.
The Bulldogs trailed early and fought back to even the score at three apiece when sophomore attack player Aimee Dewan (Alamo, CA) fired one past the Tiger goalkeeper with 24:16 on the clock.
However, the Tigers outscored Redlands 3-1 to finish out the opening stanza with a two-goal lead.
Occidental's momentum continued as it enjoyed a 4-1 run to garner a 10-5 lead with less than 18 minutes remaining in the second frame.
Redlands refused to go away and rattled off five unanswered goals over the next 14 minutes to tie it at 10 apiece. Freshman midfielder Jacky Craycraft (Lake Forest, CA) and junior midfielder Megan Prickett (Poway, CA) scored two apiece with freshman midfielder KK McCaslin (Portland, OR) accounting for the other netter during this stretch.
Seemingly headed to overtime after a scoring drought of nearly five minutes, the game turned in a hurry as the Tigers benefitted from a foul in the 8-meter semicircle with less than 10 seconds left. Occidental converted this final free-position opportunity into the game-winning goal.
In a relatively even contest, the Bulldogs fell short in the category of draw controls, winning just nine compared to Occidental's 13. Senior midfielder Christy Smith (St. Louis Park, MN) and Prickett nabbed three apiece for the Maroon and Gray.
Prickett finished with a team-leading three goals and one assist, while Craycraft and McCaslin each added two scores and an assist.
Junior Bulldog goalkeeper Ana Martinez (Pleasanton, CA) recorded the loss while making six saves in a complete-game effort.
Redlands (11-3, 3-3 SCIAC) strives to stop this recent skid when it hosts Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for Senior Night on Saturday at 7 p.m.
