WINCHESTER, Va. – Junior
Nikki Zerna's free position goal with 1:59 remaining vaulted the Shenandoah University women's lacrosse team to an 11-10 non-league victory over Christopher Newport University Saturday afternoon.
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Shenandoah (1-0) beat the Captains (0-1) for just the third time in program history and for the first time since a 15-11 win over CNU in the 2005 USA South Tournament semi-finals.
IN BRIEF
Zerna's goal, her fourth of the game and the fourth that SU scored via free position, capped a comeback in which Shenandoah erased a three-goal deficit in the final 23 minutes of play.
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Christopher Newport, which outscored the Hornets 7-2 from the 12:30 mark of the first until the 23:12 of the second to take that 8-5 lead, won the ensuing draw following Zerna's goal and had five free position attempts in the final 75 seconds to try and tie, but the Shenandoah defense came up big every time.
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Freshman goalkeeper
Lauren Standish, making her first career start, had two saves on those five attempts to keep SU on top.
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The second save came with five seconds left and Shenandoah was able to run out the clock on the victory.
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Standish had eight saves on the day.
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The win snaps a 14-game Christopher Newport winning streak in the series.
QUOTABLE
"This is the first time I have ever beaten them," twelfth-year head coach
Lindsey Lutz said. "What a great start to the season, but we have a lot to learn as we move forward."
SU BY THE NUMBERS
Goals:
Alyson Bittinger 5,
Nikki Zerna 4,
Reilly Cisar,
Kaitlyn Morris
Assists: Cisar, Morris, Zerna
Saves: Standish 8
Draws: SU 16, CNU 7
FP shots: SU 15, CNU 4
Groundballs: SU 23, CNU 16
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