MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Concordia Wisconsin women's lacrosse team picked up a key Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference victory on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons recorded its second-straight one-goal victory over Cornell with an 11-10 victory. The victory elevates the Falcons to 3-5 on the year and 1-1 in conference play.
Senior Makayla Spejcher (Green Bay, Wis.) started the scoring in the first minute of the game when she scooped the ball into the net in front of the goalie going down for the ball off an assist credited to senior Katelyn Cardinale (Mount Laurel, N.J.).
Three minutes later, sophomore Carlijn van der Bend (Voorburg, Netherlands) scored when she stole the ball in front of the net and scored from point blank.
The Rams got on the scoreboard with a woman-up goal, but the Falcons scored a woman-down goal when sophomore Anna Washburn (Suffield, Conn.) stole the ball back charged down field and found Makayla Spejcher open to her left and Spejcher scored the goal.
Katelyn Cardinale added to the lead three minute later with a free-position goal.
Cornell scored the final goal of the quarter and started the second quarter with a goal to cut the Concordia lead to 4-3.
Another Cornell turnover deep in zone proved costly in the second quarter when freshman Faith Schultz (Chilton, Wis.) snagged a loose ball and charged unmarked to the net and scored.
The Purple and White made it a one-goal game again with a woman-up goal with 11:48 left in the half.
CUW responded with a goal 46 seconds later when junior Emily Robertson (Canton, Mich.) spun past her defender and scored.
Neither team found the back of the net the rest of the half and Concordia held a 6-4 lead at the break.
The Rams started the second-half scoring, but the Falcons bounced back with back-to-back goal from Emily Robertson nine seconds apart, due to the clock not starting, but that is just a minor detail. She started the scoring once again spinning past her defend and scoring and then crashed the net a second time when she crashed the net.
Katelyn Cardinale scored the final goal of the third as the Falcons charged down the field off a pass from Makayla Spejcher.
The Rams made it interesting and outscored the Falcons, 4-1 in the fourth quarter on Saturday.
Emily Robertson scored the lone goal of the fourth quarter and that proved to be the game winner. Cornell cut the lead to one in the final minute of the game, but junior Carolyn Bourgault (Buffalo, N.Y.) iced the game winning the final draw control.
The Falcons held a 24-23 advantage in shots on Saturday.
Emily Robertson and Faith Schmitz both had four ground balls in the victory.
Junior Naomi Black (Ottawa, Ontario) terrorized the Rams with six caused turnovers.
Katelyn Cardinale and Carolyn Bourgeault both won four draw controls to give the Falcons the advantage.
Junior Parks Cawthray (Oakville, Ontario) came up with eight saves in the key conference victory.
The Falcons look to build upon this win on Tuesday when they host Illinois Tech.
