LEXINGTON, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end Saturday with a 20-9 loss to No. 1 Washington and Lee in the ODAC Tournament semi-finals.
Top-seeded W&L (16-2) used a 10-1 run in the middle of the first half to pull away from the fifth-seeded Hornets (12-7) to advance to the ODAC Championships held on Sunday.
IN BRIEF
The Generals put the initial three goals on the board before Emma Stiffler found Alyson Bittinger to break up the run with 22:54 on the clock.
The defending ODAC champions tallied the next six goals.
Jordyn Miller buried a free position shot at 13:41 to cut the deficit down to seven and Shenandoah held the Generals scoreless for the final five minutes of the first half.
Stiffler found Bittinger again to conclude the first half giving the hosts a 13-3 lead at the midway point. This goal would be the start of a 6-1 run for the fifth-seeded team.
Four minutes into the second, Bittinger scored again this time recieving a feed from Miller.
Stiffler created a scoring play by finding Nikki Zerna from the 8-meter fan.
The run was concluded by a pair unassisted goals and a Stiffler free position goal.
The Shenandoah defense held the ODAC's first-ranked offense to a single goal in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.
QUOTES FROM COACH
"We are obviously sad to season come to an end today," said head coach Lindsey Lutz. "However, I am very proud of how we turned it around at halftime and changed the narrative up. I want to thank the group of players we have graduating, Nakona Wolfe, Hope French and Gionna Maria, for their impact on this program and the Shenandoah community as a whole."
SU LEADERS
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Goals: Bittinger 5, Miller 2, Stiffler 1, Zerna 1
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Assists: Stiffler 3, Miller 1
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Groundballs: Gionna Maria 4, Jess Spindler 3, Mckensey Lavin, Madison Ulm, Ava Griese
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Cause Turnovers: Spindler 3, Lavin 1, Bittinger 1
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Draw Controls: Bittinger 6, Miller 5
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Saves: Gionna Maria 11
BY THE NUMBERS
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Shots: SU 17, W&L 39
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Groundballs: SU 10, W&L 21
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Draw Controls: SU 15, W&L 15
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Clears: SU 12-of-16, W&L 19-of-19
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Turnovers: SU 16, W&L 9
UP NEXT
Shenandoah's 2019 season has concluded; the 2020 schedule will be released this summer.
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