Morgan Douglas – Sports Editor
The next time someone mentions there is a lacrosse game on campus, check it out, because Owls’ lacrosse is undefeated at Jess Dow Field to begin the season with a pair of impressive victories.
Lacrosse defeated the Saint Michael’s College Purple Knights this past Saturday in an exciting game which ended 11-9.
“It feels good,” midfielder Mia Pulisciano, a senior, said. “Winning this game meant a lot to us. It’s awesome.”
Pulisicano was one of five Owls to record a goal in Saturday’s game, but the victory did not come easy.
The Purple Knights struck first, netting a goal in the opening minutes of the first quarter to take the early lead.
Midfielder Alexandra Ruel, a junior, got the Owls on the scoreboard moments later with a goal and the two teams would go on a scoring spree for the remainder of the quarter.
Seven of the 20 goals scored in the contest were scored in the first quarter, including the first of five goals scored by attacker Karlie Rowe, a senior.
“I’m pretty locked in,” Rowe said. “I didn’t have a great game against Pace, so it meant a lot for me to come out here and score five goals, and I just got to keep that momentum going into AIC on Wednesday.”
The Purple Knights had a 4-3 lead heading into the second quarter. Rowe scored her second goal to tie the score at four. Each team scored once more in the first half and went into the third quarter knotted 5-5.
The third quarter was all Owls, outscoring their opponents 5-1.
Pulisciano was the first to score in the quarter, giving the Owls the lead off an assist by Rowe, one of three assists Rowe had in the game.
“I knew my defender’s head was turned to the ball, so I just cut right behind her, I caught first and I shot low,” Pulisciano said, “When we execute and make those goals, it’s really soothing, like okay, we got this.”
Midway through the quarter was the point when Rowe went berserk, scoring three goals in under two minutes as the Purple Knights had no answer for her on defense.
“My two righty crease goals stood out the most because I’ve really been working on those in practice,” Rowe said. “Trying to get my first move down to get that open look on the shot, so seeing the success of what I’ve been practicing really stood out to me.”
As their lead swelled to 10-6 by quarter’s end, the Owls were not about to let up, but the lead could have been even greater had a goal not been called off by the officials after having been deemed illegal for a matter related to the lacrosse stick used on the shot.
Perhaps this rattled the Owls a bit because in the fourth quarter the Purple Knights started to come back with a pair of goals to cut the lead to 10-8.
Attacker Bayleigh Takacs, a senior, scored her second goal of the game and 14th on the year to push the lead up to 11-8 as the Owls’ sideline erupted in dance and celebration.
“Everyone is always so supportive on the sideline,” goalkeeper Sophie Kurtz, a sophomore, said, “Everyone on the field is cheering for each other. We all really just want to win.”
Kurtz did her best to make sure the Owls secured the win despite some tense late moments.
St. Michael’s scored again with just under three minutes left to cut the deficit to just two, and the Purple Knights had possession for much of the final minutes, but Kurtz allowed nothing more and time expired.
The win improves their record to 2-4 before their home matchup with American International College on Wed., March 30, at Jess Dow Field.
“We really needed this conference win, and we’ll keep it rolling from here on out,” Rowe said.
