Colorado College Women’s Lacrosse suffered their first setback of the season on April 18, dropping a 15–9 decision as they traveled to face perennial national power No. 17, the College of New Jersey.
Goaltender Alena Stern ’21 stopped 12 shots for the Tigers, her sixth game this season with double-digit saves, but the CC attack could not find its top gear for the first time this year.
The No. 17 Lions utilized a 5–1 surge early in the second half to take command of the game, building a 12–5 lead when Allie Gorman from TCNJ scored with 16:31 remaining.
CC struck for three of the next four goals and closed to within 13–8 when attacker/midfielder Molly Dibble ’22 converted on a free-position shot, but that was as close as the Tigers would get.
Eva King ’20 led the Tigers with three goals and matched her personal single-season high of 73 points, first set a year ago.
Attacker Maggie O’Donnell ’22 produced a team-high four points with a goal and three helpers. It marked the fourth game in a row and the 10th time this season the first-year attacker finished a game with four or more points.
Midfielder Lauren Pejza ’20 led the CC defense with three caused turnovers and three ground balls.
“Although we didn’t win the game, it was a fight until the last second and we are really proud of the way we played.” midfielder Margaret McDonnell ’21 said after the loss. “Our trip to the East Coast definitely gave teams on the other side of the country a reason to consider us tough competition.”
The Tigers, who slipped to 14–1 after the defeat, wrapped up their two-game trip to the East Coast when they visited Albright College in Reading, Pa. on April 19.
After a tough loss against TCNJ, King and O’Donnell pushed the Tigers to victory at Albright, giving the tigers a 15–1 record for their regular season.
King and O’Donnell combined for six goals and seven assists to lead CC to a 15–13 win.
King led the Tigers with eight points and matched her personal best with six assists. With her first goal of the game, King became the 15th player in program history to record 100 or more career goals. She also improved her point total to 81, which ranks sixth on CC’s single-season list. O’Donnell tied her season-high of four goals and dished out one assist. Two of her goals were scored during a 5–0 run that gave the Tigers an 11-5 lead with just over 20 minutes remaining in the game.
King led the surge when she set Pejza’s player-down goal with two minutes to play before half-time.
Attacker Bella Beattie ’22 struck with 6:18 left of playing time, proving to be the game winner. Albright pulled to within 14-12 at one point in the second half, but King answered 13 seconds later to restore CC’s three-point lead.
CC played without the services of junior attacker Allie Thuet ’20 for nearly 36 minutes, including all of the second half. She finished with two goals, despite receiving a pair of yellow cards late in the first half.
Senior attacker Nikki Blair ’19 finished with two goals in her final regular-season game for the CC Tigers. Stern finished with six saves for the team.
Despite playing their second game in less than 19 hours, the No. 21 Tigers improved to 15–1 this year and tied the program record for victories in a single-season, which was first set in 2012 and matched again in 2017 and 2018.
CC plans to host the 2019 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship starting Saturday, April 27, at 11 a.m. on Washburn Field. The Tigers will likely be the No. 1 seed and face an opponent to be determined in the first semifinal game.
Good luck, Tigers!