On Saturday, the women’s lacrosse team (2-14 overall, 1-7 Patriot League) traveled down to Baltimore to face the 10th-ranked team in the country, Loyola Maryland (14-2 overall, 8-0 Patriot League). In their penultimate game of the season, the Leopards lost to the Greyhounds 14-1.
After a two-hour rain delay due to lightning in the area, the game kicked off around 5 p.m. Loyola came out swinging, scoring seven unanswered goals in the first quarter. Then, its scoring run continued in the second, when it tallied six more goals to bring the lead to 13-0.
However, the Leopards held their lines in the second half, limiting Loyola to just one more goal. Sophomore attacker Sara Rogers scored the Leopards’ lone goal of the game, which came with 6:47 remaining.
The Leopards knew beforehand that the game would be a challenge. According to Rogers, they tried to approach the game with an optimistic mindset.
“We stayed positive despite the rain and the cold and playing Loyola. I think playing them is obviously just a good learning experience because they’re so good,” Rogers said. “We can learn from what they do. We can see how we line up with them speed or talent-wise, and it’s just always fun to see them.”
Despite the final score, Rogers said that the team was happy with how it played, particularly in the second half.
“Our defense played amazing in the second half and our goalie made a ton of saves, which helped so much. And then we had one goal, which is good as well,” Rogers said. “I think that keeping that momentum going with having a defensive stop or having a save just made us all super excited, even though we were down.”
Junior goalkeeper Lexie Coldiron had a 0.500 save percentage, making 14 saves alongside the 14 goals conceded. As of Wednesday night, she leads the country in total saves with 179.
Loyola outshot the Leopards 35-15 (28-7 on-goal), and led the game in free-position shots (6-4), clears (18/19-12/18) and draw controls (15-4). The Leopards led the Greyhounds in ground balls (17-13).
Rogers said that the team’s future is bright.
“I think compared to my freshman year, this year we grew so much. We had a lot of blow-out games last year, but a lot of our games this year were one or two-goal games. It was a lot different, [in terms of] team atmosphere,” Rogers said. “We were all really supportive this year, and it was just a lot more fun because we were very close. We have so much more growth to have, and we have a young team, which is really exciting.”
