St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse lacrosse team ended its 2022 season with a 21-11 win at the University of Northwestern (Minn.) Saturday at Reynolds Field. UWL finishes its season at 8-8 while Northwestern (Minn.) drops to 5-9. 

The eight wins are the most for UWL in the three-year history of the program. UWL finished 1-5 in its first season as a varsity sport in 2020. The year was cut short due to the COVID-19 publich health threat. The Eagles went 5-6 in 2021. 

In the first meeting school history between the teams, UWL raced out to a 5-0 lead Friday with Britta Nelson getting the scoring started with 14:33 left in the first quarter after a Hannah Gronowski assist. Megan Feeney made it 2-0 with 13:58 remaining and Gronowski's goal with 13:17 left gave the Eagles a three-goal lead. Feeney (11:46 remaining) and Gronowski (8:19) provided UWL with a 5-0 lead. Abigail Steigauf recorded an assist on Feeney's goal. 

Northwestern (Minn.) scored the next two goals, but Madison Buttweiler scored off a Nicole Jernander assist with 3:18 remaining in the first quarter to give UWL a 6-2 advantage. 

MacKenzie Crouse opened the second quarter with a goal 12:35 remaining off a Gronowski assist. Northwestern (Minn.) went on a 6-1 scoring run to force an 8-8 tie with 2:36 left in the first half. Kiersten Pelletier scored with 7:06 left in the quarter off a Jernander assist to give UWL a 8-4 lead, but Northwestern (Minn.) scored four straight goals to tie the game, 8-8, at halftime. 

UWL opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run to take a 14-8 advantage. Buttweiler's goal with 14:18 remaining gave the Eagles a 9-8 lead. Gronowski recorded the assist. Anna Reifschneider, Jernander and Britta Nelson each scored a goal in UWL's run while Lauren Schwartz had a pair of goals. Northwestern (Minn.) cut the lead to 14-9 after the three quarters. 

UWL outscored Northwestern (Minn.), 7-2, in the fourth quarter. Feeney had three goals in the quarter while Nelson, Gronowski, Crouse and Pelletier each had one. 

UWL totaled 32 shots, including 26 on goals. Feeney finished with five goals and one assist while Gronowski had three goals and five assists. Jernander finished with one goal and four assist while Nelson recorded three goals and one assist. Schwartz, Buttweiler, Crouse and Pelletier each had two goals. The Eagles recorded 13 assists on their 21 goals.  UWL's 13 assist ties a season-high set against Cornell College (Iowa) on April 9.

Abigale Furlano earned the win, registering nine saves. Furlano and Schwartz led the Eagles with five ground balls. 

Northwestern (Minn.) finished with 28 shots with 20 on goal. Samantha Wiebold had five goals. Brittany Clark took the loss for Northwestern (Minn.), finishing with five saves.