Leite Moves to 2nd All-Time in Goals; Falcons Offense Powers by Women's Lacrosse
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team dropped a high-scoring match of 26-13 to University of Wisconsin River Falls on a dreary Saturday morning. With light rainfall to start the day, temperatures dipped lower with gusty winds through the morning. The shooting heated up the final 21 minutes of the second half for the Falcons (5-4), who used a 10-1 run the remainder of the match to extend the big margin.
The Crusaders (3-8) responded to an early deficit for their only lead of the contest on a pair of goals by Erika Keever (Fort Worth, Texas). It took over six minutes for Dallas to break into the scoring column, but the senior midfielder got things even at 23:47 and then the leading goal about a minute and a half later. She also grabbed a personal-best in a match nine draw controls, which three of the first four attempts went to her.
Emma Moonen notched the equalizer at 21:51 for Wisconsin River Falls and sparked a stretch of four goals in a row for the visitors. Emma Kohlbeck, Gina Jablonski, and Sophia Leong also registered goals in that span. Jablonski assisted the final goal by Leong.
Leite ended the run at 17:44 with her 150th career goal that matched Mary Salotto for second all-time. She finished with a team-high five goals to push her up to 154 for sole possession.
Keever was the first to garner a hat trick and made it a one-goal difference (5-4) with about 16 and a half minutes in the opening stanza.
The Falcons soared back ahead by four, and Emily Pauletti (Dallas, Texas) snapped the streak this time with a goal at 10:27. She finished with two in the match. Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.) assisted the first goal.
Dallas headed to the half down 14-7. Leite had her second goal and Sarah Gamble (Allen, Texas) posted a man-up goal at 1:45 on an assist from Keever. Leite and Keever scored back-to-back in a 25-second span during the first eight minutes of the final frame. That cut the score to four (16-12), and then the Falcons exploded with the final game-run counting as the biggest scoring swing.
Aneliz Rios (San Diego, Calif.) recorded the other UD goal to give her five on her freshman campaign. Jordyn Buell (Murrieta, Calif.) picked up 15 saves in her first start and complete match of the season. She picked up a team-high six ground balls. Cosgrove added five and caused four turnovers.
Jablonski highlighted the Falcons attack with eight goals and two assists for 10 points. Reilly Springman and Kohlbeck followed with six points each, as Springman scored four goals and Kohlbeck had three goals and assists. Leong posted five goals for all her points. The team had 25 shots in the first half and was one away from matching that in the second. Dallas through up 26 shot attempts overall.
Ashley Olson earned the win in goal for 60 minutes. She made five saves. Jablonski, Nicole Swanson, and Kohlbeck combined for 17 of the team's 22 draw controls with the first pair in this trio with six apiece. The visitors outdid UD on groundballs (27-24) and forced the Crusaders into 11 more turnovers (37-26). UWRF was 33-for-41 on clears compared to 19-of-39 by the home team.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Leite from #UDallasWLAX moved to 2nd in the @UDallasWLAX Record Books on Saturday after her 5-goal performance vs. Wisconsin River Falls!#WeAreUD #d3lax pic.twitter.com/JNzgqvRYmO
— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) March 31, 2019
UP NEXT
Dallas returns a week from now for "Senior Day" on Saturday, April 6, versus St. Edwards University. Start time determined for 5 p.m.