CANTON, Ohio -- The Lake Erie women's lacrosse team battled Malone University on Saturday evening, exiting with a 17-9 loss. The Pioneers entered the game allowing the fewest goals in the conference at just 7.4 per game. By the end of the first period, despite trailing 5-3, the Storm offense looked promising, highlighted by two Reese Friesen goals and Lainey Davis' first goal of the season! However, the visitors were held scoreless in the second period and went into halftime down 7-3. Four more Malone goals after the break pushed the lead to nine, but two quick responses from Lake Erie helped keep things competitive before the Pioneers added two more to make it 13-5 heading into the final period.
The final 15 minutes were high-scoring on both sides, as each team found the net four times in what was still an impressive offensive showing by the Storm against one of the conference's top defensive teams.
Notables
After recording just two shots on goal over the first six games of the season, redshirt senior Reese Friesen has become much more involved offensively, posting her third hat trick in a four-game stretch.
Two freshmen also put together impressive performances on the stat sheet: Lindsey Sutter and LeAnna Waters. Sutter had her most impactful offensive outing of the season, recording a goal in the final minutes to go along with two assists. Waters, meanwhile, finished with three caused turnovers, tying Amelia Shirk for the team single-game high this season. She also led the team with four ground balls.
Avery Artino played all 60 minutes in goal for the Storm and made seven saves. She now has 47 on the season and 192 in her career.
As a team, Lake Erie set a season high in caused turnovers with eight, posted a season-best 81.0% shot-on-goal percentage, and tied its season high with five free-position shots. Despite the final score, the Storm showed real signs of progress against a very strong opponent.
Looking Ahead
With six games remaining, the Storm return home this week for matchups against Northwood on Wednesday, April 1, and Findlay on Friday, April 3. The Timberwolves are still searching for their first win of the season, sitting at 0-9 with a -98 goal differential. Last year, Northwood narrowly defeated Lake Erie 18-17 despite a huge effort from Brooke McNeal, who scored nine goals to help fuel a late comeback that just came up short.
Northwood is led in scoring by freshman Mairin Ziegler with 21 goals and senior Gabby Wilson with 18. The duo has combined for 39 of the team's 59 total goals.
