La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse lacrosse team finished its season with a 15-14 loss to Aurora University (Ill.) Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles finish their season at 12-5 while the Spartans improve to 15-2 on the year.
Lauren Schwartz had four goals Saturday.
Aurora (Ill.), ranked fifth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Region VII, took a 1-0 lead with 14:34 left in the first quarter on Monique Gibson's goal off a Danielle Cobbett assist. UWL tied the game on
Olivia Wight's goal with 11:52 remaining. After Cobbett gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead,
Lauren Schwartz tied the game for the Eagles with 5:52 left in the opening quarter. Bailey Simpson scored with 5:04 remaining to give Aurora (Ill.) a 3-2 lead, but
Ava Schiltz scored with 3:41 left to force a 3-3 tie after the first quarter.
The Eagles scored five straight goals to start the second quarter for a 8-3 lead.
Grace Willmott gave UWL a 4-3 lead with 14:19 left.
Megan Feeney scored twice in the Eagles' run while
Megan Feeney and Wight also notched goals. Aurora (Ill.) came back with six consecutive goals to regain a 9-8 lead at halftime. Simpson and Gibson each scored twice in the run for the Spartans. Knely Axvig's goal with 5:01 left cut the lead to 8-6 and Jalyn Yaukovitz gave Aurora (Ill.) the 9-8 lead with :04 remaining in the second quarter.
Olivia Wight scored a pair of goals.
After the Spartans took a 10-8 lead on Simpson's goal with 9:49 left in the third quarter, the Eagles tied the game on goals from Schwartz (8:20 left) and Schiltz (6:45). Aurora (Ill.) notched the next three goals. Yaukovitz goal off an assist from Hannah Martindale with 5:59 remaining gave the Spartans a 11-10 lead. Gibson scored with 4:56 left and Jessica Boyland scored with 4:29 remaining for a three-goal lead. Schwartz cut it the 13-11 with 1:16 left.
Boyland extended the lead to 14-11 with 11:39 remaining, but UWL came back with three straight goals to tie the game. Schiltz scored with 5:28 left on a
Megan Maloney assist. Maloney then cut it to 14-13 on a free position goal with 2:56 remaining and
Abigail Steigauf tied it with 2:36 left on a free position shot. Yaukovitz scored the eventual game-winning goal with :13 remaining on Simpson's assist.
UWL finished with 44 shots in the game as Schwartz led the Eagles with four goals. Schiltz had three goals and one assist while Wight and Feeney each scored twice. Abigale Furlano recorded four saves.
Ava Schiltz had three goals and one assist.
Aurora (Ill.) totaled 22 shots with Simpson and Gibson each scoring four goals. Yaukovitz had three goals and Boyland two. Cobbett recorded four assists. Meghan Ginty earned the win in goal, finishing with 11 saves. Alexis Crowley started in goal, recording seven saves.
