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Navy Women's Lacrosse Team Loses Heartbreaker in Patriot League Semifinals
April 25, 2008
Washington, D.C.-No. 1 seed American (8-9) scored seven-consecutive goals over the final 9:40 to give the Eagles a 17-15 victory over No. 4 seed Navy (13-4) in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals at American University. American advances to the Patriot League Championship game where they will play the winner of the Lehigh-Colgate game. The winner of the Patriot League will play host to the winner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament in the NCAA Play-In game next Saturday with the winner advancing to the NCAA Championship. "This was a very tough loss," said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. "American was very resilient and we couldn't catch a break. During their run they won almost every draw control and the few that we did win we were called for a foul. It was very frustrating." Navy dominated the Patriot League regular season champions for most of the contest, including a first half that saw the Mids win 11 of 17 draw controls. Navy led by just a 4-3 count after the first 10 minutes, but got two goals each from freshman midfielder Meg Decker and sophomore attack Mary Ruttum to take an 8-3 lead. After American cut the Navy lead to three at 8-5 with 3:44 left in the half, the Mids got back-to-back goals from Decker, her fifth of the half, and sophomore midfielder Erin Rawlick to go back up by five at 10-5. American's Leslie Fisher scored with 1:49 left to cut the Navy lead to 10-6 at the half. Navy increased its lead back to five at 12-7 early in the second half on goals by freshman Katrina Nietsch and Rawlick, before American stormed back with three straight goals to cut the lead to 12-10 with 14:34 remaining in the contest. It appeared that all the momentum was now on American's side, but to Navy's credit the Mids did not wilt under the pressure scoring three straight goals to go back up by five at 15-10 with 12:37 left. Decker scored her Patriot League Tournament record tying sixth goal of the game with 14:08 left in the contest to give Navy a three-goal advantage, Rawlick scored her nation's best 67th goal of the year to put Navy up 14-10 and then Ruttum scored off a pass from senior Amanda Towey to give Navy the 15-10 advantage and it looked like Navy was going to be the first team in Patriot League Tournament history (eight years) to beat the number one seed. Unfortunately for the Midshipmen, Ruttum's goal was the last they would score. American's Lauren Aksionoff started the Eagles comeback bid with a free position goal with 9:40 left in the contest to cut Navy's lead to 15-11. Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Jackie Lane scored her third goal of the contest to make it 15-12 and then Lane's sister, Lauren, scored off an assist from Brit Ferguson 14 seconds later to make it 15-13 with 5:57 left. Aksionoff's third goal of the game came 32 seconds later at the 5:25 mark to cut the lead to one at 15-14 and the Eagles tied it just 26 seconds later when Brittany Ferguson scored on a free-position shot. AU would take their first lead of the game with 4:16 remaining on a goal by Gina Ibello off an assist from Amanda Makoid and then put the game away with another free position goal, this one from Lauren Lane to make the final 17-15. The 17 goals scored by American tied the Patriot League Tournament record. "We played with a lot of heart today and gave it everything we had," said Decker, Navy's sensational freshman. "We played a good game, they just played better. These are two teams that are virtually even. We came out on top by one goal in the regular season and they beat us by two today. I couldn't have asked for anything more out of anybody on this team. We played hard and we played together and we will continue to get better, because we have a great coaching staff." Despite the disappointing loss, the Navy women's lacrosse team has a lot to be proud of. Navy's 13 wins is an NCAA record for a first-year program, while the Mids 11-game home winning streak is the fourth longest current streak in the country. Navy accomplished all that with of the youngest teams in the country with 23 freshmen or sophomores on the roster. "We can't be satisfied with the season," said Timchal. "We have to want more. I think people can see how tough this team can be down the road." Navy Goals: Meg Decker-6, Erin Rawlick-3, Mary Ruttum-3, Katrina Nietsch-2, Amanda Towey-1 Navy Assists: Caitlin Mandrin Hill-1, Erin Rawlick-1, Amanda Towey-1 American Goals: Lauren Aksionoff-3, Jackie Lane-3, Brittany Finnegan-3, Amanda Makoid-2, Gina Ibello-2, Lauren Lane-2, Kira Sonberg-1, Leslie Fischer-1 American Assists: Amanda Makoid-3, Kira Sonberg-2, Brit Ferguson-1, Gina Ibello-1. Anne Marie Person-1 Shots Navy-31 American-38 Ground Balls Navy-23 American-26 Draw Controls Navy-19 American-15 Clears Navy-12/17 American-16/18 Free Position Shots Navy-3/5 American-4/7 Saves Navy-13 American-9 Turnovers Navy-18 American-16 |
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