WINCHESTER, Va. - The Shenandoah University women's lacrosse team earned its second ODAC victory of the season Saturday with a 13-12 win over Lynchburg on the Sprint Field at Shentel Stadium turf.
Lynchburg (3-5, 0-1 ODAC) struck first just 19 seconds in with a goal off the opening draw only to see SU (7-3, 2-0) answer with five straight to take a lead it would not relinquish.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The visitors made it interesting by closing out the first half on a 4-2 run. Shenandoah had the final goal of the stanza on a Nikki Zerna to Kaitlyn Morris tally to take a 7-5 lead at the break.
Zerna opened the second half scoring with an unassisted goal at 28:30 before a pair of Lynchburg goals cut the SU lead to just one, 8-7, with 26:39 remaining.
Shenandoah reeled off the next four with Alyson Bittinger, who had seven goals, scoring twice.
Lynchburg again answered, scoring three straight, only to see Zerna score what proved to be the game-winner on a free position shot with 6:16 left.
Lynchburg had a pair of free position goals, the latter with seven seconds remaining, to provide the final margin.
Shenandoah lost the ensuing draw following the second of the two free position goals, but Lynchburg did not have enough time to get off a shot to tie the contest.
SU LEADERS
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Goals: Bittinger 7, Zerna 3, Morris 2, Stiffler 1
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Assists: Zerna 3, Tignor 3, Baxter 1
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Groundballs: Arndt 2, Morris 2, Hardisky 2, Tignor 2
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Caused Turnovers: Kelley 3, Griese 2
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Draw Controls: Bittinger 4, Arndt 4, Morris 4, Kelley 3
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Saves: Gionna Maria 8
BY THE NUMBERS
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Shots: SU 28, LYN 25
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Groundballs: SU 14, LYN 19
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Draws: SU 17, LYN 10
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Clears: SU 17-of-21, LYN 17-of-19
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Free Position Attempts: SU 4-of-7, LYN 2-of-6
QUOTABLE
"It's great to get our second ODAC win of the season," head coach Lindsey Lutz, who was honored prior to the game for notching her 100th career victory, said. "We had confidence the entire game, which made a big difference. We stepped up after they scored that opening goal and never looked back.
"Now we prepare for Randolph College."
UP NEXT
The women host Randolph on Wednesday, April 3, in the 7 p.m. nightcap of a lacrosse doubleheader with the Shenandoah men.
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