Lebanon, Ill. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team (4-2) defeated the Bearcats of McKendree University 11-5 in a Thursday evening game at Leemon Field in Lebanon, Mo. to conclude their road trip through the midwest.
Sydney Smith highlighted the day for the Golden Bears, scoring her second hat-trick of the season. Along with her three goals, she added her first assist of the year and tallied two ground balls.
A pair of goals each from Susie Monson and Kaci Kotschevar helped add to the Navy and Gold's big day.
As a team, CSP allowed their fewest number of goals on the season with just five goals. Marking the lowest amount since last February where they also faced McKendree and held them to just three goals.
In the first quarter, it was the Bearcats who started the game's scoring, getting the first goal in the seventh minute to go up 1-0 early.
Three minutes later, Smith scored her first of the day to even the score and get the Golden Bears offense powered up and with that Kotschevar scored her first goal of the day two minutes later to give CSP their first lead of the game.
After a back-and-forth of goals between the two teams, the first quarter ended with both teams tied 3-3.
The Golden Bears came out dominant in the second quarter holding the Bearcats scoreless while scoring four goals of their own to take a commanding 7-3 lead.
Four different players found the net in the second quarter for the Navy and Gold including Smith, Sara Kaiser, Kayleigh Nelson and Shelby Hansen.
Kotschevar scored her second goal of the game to start the third quarter. Four minutes later McKendree scored their first goal after being held scoreless for 24 minutes by the Golden Bear defense.
Monson scored her first goal of the day to give CSP one more goal to extend their lead 9-4 going into the final quarter of play.
McKendree scored just one goal in the fourth quarter and were unable to claw back against a defense that was playing their best game of the season. A pair of goals to cap the game off from Monson and Anna Fisher gave Concordia the 11-5 victory.
The Golden Bears committed a season-low 11 turnovers while recording a season-high 39 total shots.
While holding the Bearcats to just five total goals, the defense tallied 18 ground balls and four caused turnovers. Junior Anna Palony led the defense with three ground balls and one caused turnover.
Katie Colleran got her second consecutive start in the net, earning her first collegiate win and making a season-high six saves.
The Golden Bears will return to action Friday, Mar. 14 when they travel to St. Joseph, Mo. to face the Griffons of Missouri Western. Action is set for 12 p.m from Craig Field at Spratt Memorial Stadium.
