The Marist women’s lacrosse team won in nailbiting fashion over Quinnipiac behind a game-winner from senior midfielder Maddie Schrader, 13-12.
Graduate student attacker Kelly Trotta tied her career high with six goals while fellow graduate student attacker Kerri Gutenberger totaled her sixth hat trick. The Bobcats’ sophomore tandem of Mia Delmond and Cate Bendowski each had hat tricks in the one-goal defeat.
On a pouring Wednesday afternoon, Marist (3-6, 2-0 MAAC Conference) took down the last-place Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-7, 0-2 MAAC) in a second-half defensive slugfest.
The Red Foxes lit up the net to start the game. Gutenberger tricked her defender on a pump-fake and dialed up a missile to the corner only 30 seconds in, highlighting a 3-1 run.
Marist continued their offensive prowess to end the first quarter. A beautiful feed by Gutenberger found Trotta, who buried the shot, good for her second goal of the afternoon. The early attack helped the Red Foxes outscore their opponents 13-2 in the opening frame in their last two games.
“I think it’s really exciting that we’re still doing that in the first quarter,” said head coach Keith Detelj. “That’s because they’re scouting out exactly what we want to do and we’re still getting good looks.”
Quinnipiac started the second period on the attack; Marist’s junior defender Sophia Georgopolous picked up a yellow card which created a woman-up opportunity for the Bobcats. Junior attacker Angelina Sparacio drove one past freshman goalie Megan Morris to cut the deficit to three.
Marist responded by going on another multi-goal run of their own. Trotta converted her fourth hat trick of the season to put her squad back in a comfortable lead.
It was not comfortable for long; Sparacio shrunk the Marist lead back to two while being a woman down. A turnover on the clear with 2:52 left in the half created a two-on-one fastbreak for Quinnipiac, and Delmond capitalized on it to make it a one-score game.
With 23 seconds remaining, Trotta gave Marist breathing room with a rocket to put the Foxes back up two. Quinnipiac had other plans; with zeroes on the clock graduate student midfielder Amy Nicoloff snuck one past Morris to keep it within one.
The rain was in full effect to start the third quarter, making the game much more defense-oriented. Both teams deterred shots from their goalies, and turnovers were abundant.
“I think it’s just like reminding ourselves that we’re not always going to be perfect,” said Trotta. “Not every shot is going to hit the back of the net. But we have to continue to push and can’t put our heads down because we still have a whole half left.”
Quinnipiac broke the scoring drought with 3:45 left in the third. Going one-for-three on free-position attempts in the quarter, the Bobcats’ third try rang true. Bendowski’s second goal of the day tied it up for the first time since the sides were knotted at zero.
“We just needed to step up and a lot of players like Mia [Fernandes], Julie [Santel], Sophia [Georgopolous], we’re all stepping up and communicating,” said junior defender Juliana Palumbo. “Being able to fix those gaps and make those slides so we’re able to string together a few more steps as well.”
Marist took the lead back behind a 2-1 run by Trotta alone. Scoring her fifth and sixth goals of the contest, she tied her career high with the final 15 minutes to go.
“I’m just leaning on my teammates and I know that they believe in me. I believe in myself and today we had a game plan coming into this,” said Trotta. “There’s ups and downs in the game and you have to keep your head leveled and look for opportunity. That’s what my teammates were pushing me to do.”
The fourth started just like the third; turnovers plagued both offenses as the rain came crashing down. The benches roared after every play, not knowing what could happen next as the game hung in the balance. A free-position attempt for Delmond ended in an equalizer, tying the game once again with just over 10 minutes to play.
At the 8:52 mark, the Bobcats took the lead for the first time; freshman midfielder Maggie Kennedy netted her first to put her team on top. Marist fell behind for the first time in nearly two games.
After not scoring since the first quarter, Gutenberger fired a top-shelf rifle to bring Marist back with just under four minutes to go. Schrader followed soon after with a free-position goal at 3:05, which would stand as the eventual game-winner.
Quinnipiac had possession with a minute-twenty on the clock, but Georgopolous forced a turnover to ice the game.
“I think it was a fabulous play by Sophia [Georgopolous] not to get a foul, playing straight up,” said Detelj.
The Red Foxes hit the road Saturday for an early afternoon showdown with the newly formed Rider Broncs’ women’s lacrosse program. Gametime is slated for 1 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo and graphic from Jaylen Rizzo
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