ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team (4-7, 1-2 GLIAC) suffered a narrow loss 7-4 to the Lakers of Grand Valley State on Sunday afternoon at the GVSU Lacrosse Stadium.
The three-goal loss marked the closest game between the two programs and closest margin of victory for the Lakers since last season's 10-5 win over Concordia.
Leading the Golden Bears on the offensive side was freshman Shelby Marik who recorded her eighth multi-goal game of the season and kept her perfect scoring streak in-tact.
On the defensive side of the turf, Sophomore Ruby Swenson led the team with five ground balls and one caused turnover to match her season-high that she set on Friday's game against Davenport.
Concordia started the scoring effort off fast, finding the net just under two minutes in to take a 1-0 lead, led by Marik's first score of the day.
Both teams traded shot attempts and turnovers before Grand Valley State capitalized and scored their first goal of the day to tie the game up in the first quarter.
The Lakers were able to put together back-to-back goals to close out the first quarter with a 3-1 advantage. CSP would see their chances and capitalize on them but would never see a lead for the rest of the game.
Starting the second quarter the Marik magic continued, scoring her 28th goal of the season to see the lead cut down to one.
A 2-0 scoring run for the Lakers would end the first half in their favor 5-2 with the Golden Bears having work to do in the second half.
The third quarter was a tail of two stellar defenses battling to earn possession and give their respective offenses a scoring opportunity.
Two turnovers by Concordia would allow GVSU to take advantage and add two more goals to end the third quarter with a 7-2 lead, their biggest of the day.
The Golden Bears would not settle and forced their way back like they have so many times this season. Recording a game-high eight shots in the fourth quarter, trying to put together any offensive rhythm they could find.
With 10-minutes to play, Shelby Hansen scored to get the Navy and Gold within four. She was assisted by freshman Nora LeBlanc for her 14th goal of the season and her ninth game in a row with a goal. The assist marked LeBlanc's first of her collegiate career.
It was a race to the ball at all times from here on out, both teams fighting to win draw controls and force a turnover.
Freshman Alayna Roehl scored her 15th goal of the season with 1:30 left in the game to cut the deficit to three. Unfortunately the clock would run out on the Golden Bear's comeback bid and the Lakers would earn the 7-4 victory.
Junior Marge Lucio earned her second consecutive start of the weekend and her eighth start of the season, making a game-high eight saves. She brings her season total to 50 and notches her third straight game with 8-plus saves.
The tight contest saw CSP slightly edge GVSU 24-21 in ground balls and the Lakers won 9-13 draw controls.
Concordia tallied 19 shots with 10 coming on goal with Grand Valley State having 20 shots and 14 on goal. Both teams went 0-2 on free-position attempts.
The Golden Bears will look to bounce back next weekend when they face the Wildcats of Northern Michigan on Saturday, Apr. 4 in Marquette, Mich. inside the Superior Dome.
