La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse lacrosse team earned a 12-9 victory over UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 11-4 overall and 5-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds drop to 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference.
UW-Eau Claire took a 1-0 lead at 14:20 with a Grace Schmidt goal, but UWL responded with three straight goals.
Megan Maloney tied the game with 9:54 remaining in the first quarter and
Ava Schiltz, on an
Emily Wrobbel assist, gave UWL a 2-1 lead with 5:10 left. Maloney added a man-up goal with 2:38 remaining to make it 3-1 after the first quarter.
Jess Stiller and Ellie Fisher scored for UW-Eau Claire to tie the game at 3-3 with Reegan Werner recording assists on both goals.
Maloney gave UWL a 4-3 lead with 2:44 left in the second quarter before Paige Kiani tied the game for UW-Eau Claire on Fisher's assist with :24 remaining to make it 4-4 at halftime.
UWL, playing its final home contest of the regular season, scored the game's only four goals in the third quarter to take an 8-4 advantage. Schiltz made it 5-4 with 11:20 remaining. Wrobbel recorded an assist on the goal.
Tori Katzenmeyer (10:45),
Angie Olla (5:01) and Maloney (2:30) also scored in the quarter. Katzenmeyer recorded an assist on Olla's goal.
Goals from Schiltz and Maloney early in the fourth quarter extended UWL's lead to 11-4. The Blugolds rallied with four straight goals to cut the lead to 11-8. Kiani and Schmidt each scored while Werner had a pair of goals. Schmidt's goal with 6:00 made it 11-8. Maloney notched her sixth goal of the game for the Eagles with 3:48 left to give UWL a 12-8 lead before Stiller finished the scoring for the Blugolds with :54 remaining.
UWL had 28 shots in the game. Maloney recorded six goals while Schiltz finished with three. Katzenmeyer had two goals and one assist while Olla finished with one goal and two assists. Wrobbel also had two assists.
Schiltz,
Anna Jenson and
Stefania Rossi each had four ground balls. Schiltz had seven draw controls. Rossi earned the win, recording 11 saves.
UW-Eau Claire totaled 27 shots with Werner, Stiller, Kiani and Schmidt each scoring twice. Werner and Fisher each had two assists.
Werner also had a team-high five ground balls. Lizzy Schoknecht suffered the loss, recording seven saves.
UWL returns to action Saturday, April 25 at Hamline University (Minn.) at noon in the regular season finale.
