ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team (2-4, 0-0 GLIAC) fell to the Griffons of Missouri Western State (4-1, 0-0 GLVC) 17-5 after a late run was too much to overcome for the Golden Bears on Sunday afternoon inside the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.
Freshman Shelby Marik continued her stellar freshman campaign, notching her 13th goal of the season and accumulating a team-leading four ground balls.
The Golden Bears got on the board first, scoring just under five minutes in after both teams traded turnovers. Freshman Alayna Roehl found the net on a man-up opportunity for her ninth goal of the season.
The Griffons grabbed the reins and found themselves on a 5-0 run to end the first quarter up 5-1.
MWSU continued their momentum, opening the second quarter with a quick scoop and score to extend their lead 6-1.
With the Navy and Gold facing an early deficit they needed to take advantage of scoring opportunities and did just that to get back-to-back man-up goals from Shelby Hansen and Jenna Hamann to break into the Griffons run.
With the score now at 6-3 in favor of Missouri Western State, the Griffons put together a 4-1 run against the Navy and Gold to hold a 10-4 lead heading into the break. Sydney Smith added her second goal of the season.
Coming out from Halftime both teams found their defenses stepping up to the plate with each team scoring once to end the third quarter with a 11-5 MWSU advantage.
Jayde Isaacson and Susie Monson opened the final quarter with back-to-back goals in an effort to get the offense rolling, making it just a four goal lead for the Griffons.
Missouri Western State tightened their defense down and closed the door on a CSP comeback, adding a 4-0 run to end the game with the win 15-7.
Leading the defensive effort once again for the Golden Bears was Senior Claire Flahaven who tallied a team-leading three caused turnovers and two ground balls.
Junior Erika Holm got her second start of the season in net where she made a career-high 10 saves, bringing her season total to 22.
As a team, Concordia committed 21 turnovers and went 9-13 on clear attempts while recording just 11 shots on goal.
The Griffons were dominant on the draw control, winning 18 of 24 attempts, holding CSP to their lowest draw control total since last season's clash with Grand Valley State where the Golden Bears won just five.
The Navy and Gold will take a short break before returning to the field on Mar. 13 where they will travel to Liberty, Mo. to play William Jewell and then head to Kansas City, Mo. to wrap-up their non-conference schedule with Rockhurst on Mar. 15.
