Women’s lacrosse loses to Penn, drops to 2-3 record | The Triangle

Women’s lacrosse loses to Penn, drops to 2-3 record

The Drexel University women’s lacrosse team traded wins and losses to start the year at 2-3, including a loss to the University of Pennsylvania (Photograph courtesy of Greg Carroccio/Sideline Photo).

The Drexel University women’s lacrosse team has traded wins and losses to begin the 2019 season with a current record standing at 2-3. Initially, they took a tough loss to Johns Hopkins University Feb. 10, but bounced back to take a win from Iona College Feb. 16. Since then, the Dragons unfortunately lost to No. 20 Georgetown University Feb. 23, and bounced back again for another incredible win against Rutgers University March 2. The most recent matchup came against the University of Pennsylvania March 9 during which the Dragons lost 12-10, March 5.

In the game against Rutgers, the two teams were going back-and-forth with scoring up until it was tied at seven goals each with 2:29 left to play in the first half. Sophomore Colleen Grady got her first goal of the game to put the Dragons up 3-2. After learning how to get past the Rutgers goalkeeper, she ended with four goals in the first half alone.

With the score tied at seven, the Dragons took possession and scored three more goals on Rutgers to bring the score to 10-7 at halftime. Although the Dragons had fewer opportunities to take shots on Rutgers, they were more effective in their direct shots on goal, and this is what made the difference in the first half. Drexel’s goalkeeper sophomore Zoe Bennett had nine of her total 15 saves in the first half.

Moving into the second half, Rutgers made a comeback to bring the score to 11-10 still in favor of the Dragons. A 4-0 scoring run by the Dragons widened the lead again.

Rutgers scored one more goal in the second half, but the Dragons responded with three more goals to end the game 18-12.

The Dragons moved on to play Penn who came into the game undefeated through their first four games.

The Dragons took a commanding lead to start the game going 4-0 for scoring which stunned the Penn team. But Penn came back with a 5-0 run of their own to take the lead by one.

Sophomore Karson Harris had her fourth goal of the season when she tied the game at five. The first half ended with Penn leading by only one goal 7-6.

The two teams traded goals again at the start of the second half until Penn had another 4-0 run to take the lead 12-8. This ended up being enough for Penn to win the game even though the Dragons attempted to push until the end to tie the game.

Overall, Harris and senior Maggie Stetson had two games a piece. Six other Dragons had goals in the game, which shows a lot of depth to the team. Penn outshot Drexel throughout the game and were very effective, shooting 25 of their total 32 shots on goal.

Bennett had 13 saves against Penn, and for her efforts, she was named the Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Week. Her 15 saves against Rutgers was a career-high, which helped the Dragons take Drexel’s first win against a Big Ten conference team. For her five goals and eight points against Rutgers, Grady was named the Drexel School of Education Athlete of the Week.

The Dragons will host Villanova University March 9 at Vidas Field at 1 p.m. They will then travel to New York to play Manhattan College March 12. As of March 5, Villanova was 2-3 on the season. Last season against Villanova, the Dragons lost 20-12, so they will be looking to fight back this year for the win.