REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team (9-6, 5-5) closed out the regular season with a competitive 13-10 home loss to No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer Saturday afternoon.
It was all Sagehens in the first 13 minutes of the game with April Bryant and Emily Webster being the lone goal scorers and the Sagehens in front, 5-2. Gwenyth Guico, though, found Nicole Sanders for the final tally of the first as they were within two, 5-3, after 15 minutes of action.
In the second quarter Ruby Czajkowski found Webster for her second, which cut the deficit to three, 7-4, with 7:22 remaining in the opening half. That would be the only time Redlands found the back of the net in the quarter but their defense held Pomona-Pitzer scoreless for the final 8:31.
In the opening four minutes of the third the Sagehens looked like they would pull away with a quick 3-0 run to extend their lead to its largest of six, 10-4. Over the final 5:26, however, Maya Weaver assisted Webster and Cailin Walker found Bryant to make it a four-goal game heading into the final quarter.
Redlands were scoreless for almost eight minutes and they conceded twice, but a Mallory Morrissey goal at the 7:22 mark sparked a 3-0 run. The other two goals came from Webster and Bryant, and all three goals were within a minute and 24 seconds of each other. The stretch made it 12-9 with 5:58 still to play.
Pomona-Pitzer would end the run 32 seconds after the Bryant goal and Redlands failed to score until Bryant took advantage of being up a player with 1:39 on the clock.
Bryant, Czajkowski, and Webster all had four points. They also combined for seven ground balls, two caused turnovers, and five draw controls. Jenny Quinonez Diaz, Ella Batarse, Vanessa Flexen, and Natalie Schumann added two caused turnovers and two ground balls each.
In goal Courtney Myers made 11 more saves and had two ground balls as well. It is her fifth double digit save game, and it gives her 96 this season.
The Bulldogs had already secured a spot in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament coming into the game.
The semifinals are this Wednesday, April 29. Their likely opponent is No. 2 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) who leads Chapman University, 17-7, at home at the end of the third quarter as of writing this. Their win would set up a Bulldog-Athena matchup. A big comeback by the Panthers would push Redlands to No. 4 and a rematch with No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer.
