WASHINGTON, Pa. --
Sarah Labovitz (Great Falls, Va./The Bullis School) and
Aisa Uhler (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) combined to account for nine goals and
Kaitlyn Brown (Charlotte Hall, Md./La Plata) registered 12 saves as the Washington & Jefferson women's lacrosse team earned a hard-fought 16-15 win over Allegheny College Wednesday evening at Alexandre Stadium.
The victory improves W&J to 3-4 overall while Allegheny drops to 6-2. The victory was the first for the Presidents over the Gators since 2012. Allegheny will be a member of the PAC next season.
The two future conference rivals staged a back and forth battle that was not decided until the final horn sounded after 60 competitive minutes of play.
An unassisted goal by
Clara Sherwood (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) evened the score at 3-3 with 5:37 to play in the first quarter. The visiting Gators would build a three-goal advantage at the end of the first quarter. Allegheny scored a pair of goals inside the final 10 seconds of the first, which included a Grace Baginski goal to beat the buzzer.
W&J tallied four of the first five goals of the second quarter to pull even at 7-7. Labovitz accounted for three of the four scores during the run. An unassisted goal by
Sofia Jenkins (Hughesville, Md./The Calverton School) tied the score at the 10:37 mark. Allegheny answered with a score to briefly regain a one-goal lead. However, the Presidents continued to hold the momentum, as they ripped off three consecutive scores to take a 10-8 advantage. Sherwood, Uhler and Labovitz scored consecutively during the stretch. The Gators tallied the final goal of the second to cut the W&J lead to 10-9 at halftime.
A goal by
Becca Ghion (Sutersville, Pa./Yough) gave W&J its biggest lead of the game, a three-goal margin, at 13-10 midway through the third. The Gators responded with four straight goals to regain the lead at 14-13 late in the third. A goal by Jenkins allowed W&J to even the score at 14 heading to the fourth quarter.
The defenses tightened up in the fourth, as the quarter was the lowest scoring of the night. Labovitz scored a man-up goal with 10:52 to play and Uhler added a score with 7:53 to play. W&J was able to do what they needed to do down the stretch to earn the one-goal win over the Gators.
Labovitz finished with six points (5g, 1a), a game-high 11 draw controls and four ground balls.
Amanda Effland (Frederick, Md./Frederick), W&J's leading goal scorer entering the game, played the role of distributor Wednesday, as she finished with a game-high six assists. Defensively,
Sam Casile (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) paced the Presidents efforts. Casile finished with seven ground balls and six caused turnovers.
Paige Howe (Bowie, Md./Saint John's) tacked on four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
The team stats reflected the close game that was played out. Allegheny held slight advantages in shots (37-34) and successful clears (24-29 to 20-27). W&J held a distinct advantage in draw controls (21-13) and a slight edge in ground balls (36-34).
W&J travels to Thiel College on Wednesday, April 6. The game is a rematch of last spring's PAC Championship match, which was an 18-3 victory for W&J. Start time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
