River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse lacrosse team lost 26-7 at UW-River Falls Friday afternoon at Ramer Field. The Eagles fall to 6-6 on the season while the Falcons improve to 13-1.
The Falcons were on the board first, on an Emma Kohlbeck goal assisted by Holly Eckers at 14:03 in the first quarter. Nicole Jernander responded quickly for UWL, evening the score at 1-1 at the 13:42 mark. UW-River Falls answered back with a 6-0 run, capped by Grace Hannula's second goal of the game at 8:43. Megan Feeney ended the run at 8:01 to bring the score to 7-2, but the Falcons finished the first quarter on another 6-0 run, which included two goals from Eckers and two assists by Emily Herdine.
Abigail Steigauf
UW-River Falls kept its run going to start the second quarter, scoring four more unanswered goals and bringing the score to 17-2 at 10:34. Hanna Gronowski scored the only UWL goal of the second period on an assist by Kiersten Pelletier with 8:10 left. Emma Heerey and Herdine each scored goals before the half to give the Falcons a 19-3 advantage going into the break.
UW-River Falls scored the first four goals of the second half, with Herdine adding her fifth of the game, and Grace Ross putting the Falcons up 23-3 at the 8:00 mark. Anna Reifschneider scored on an assist from Jernander at 5:42, but the UW-River Falls scored two more goals to end the third, going up 25-4 with :05 left in the quarter on a man-up goal by Emma Kohlbeck.
MacKenzie Crouse set up Kaley Hendrick for the first goal of the final period at 12:11, and Cassandra Hubble scored the last goal of the game for UW-River Falls at 9:40. Grace Willmott scored at 8:40, and Jernander brought the final score to 26-7 at 1:06 left in the game.
Jernander led the Eagles with two goals, and five players recorded a single goal, while four players had an assist. Abigale Furlano allowed 19 goals on 31 shots with eight saves in the first half, and Emily Hageman allowed seven goals on 14 shots with five saves in the second. The Eagles ended with 16 shots, 14 ground balls, and four caused turnovers.
Kaley Hendrick
Herdine led all players with five goals, while Eckers and Kohlbeck each added four. Herdine and Kohlbeck each also added three assists. Ashley Olsen allowed seven goals on 16 shots with four saves. UW-River Falls had 45 shots, 22 ground balls, and 23 draw controls.
UWL returns to action on Saturday, April 23 against Colorado College in River Falls at 12 p.m.
