TACOMA, Wash. – Despite having no available substitutions and multiple student-athletes recovering from injuries, the Corban University Women's Lacrosse team (1-2) came all the way back from a six-goal deficit to nearly pull off an incredible come-from-behind victory on the road against the NCAA DIII University of Puget Sound (3-4) in a contest the Loggers took 16-14 on their home field.
"I am so proud of our effort today on the field," Warriors' Head Coach Kylie McMinn shared shortly after their narrow loss. "We fought hard to close a big deficit and could have come home with a win against a tough opponent if we were able to stay healthy and have extra subs when rests were needed."
McMinn continued by stating, "We'll go home happy knowing that this game has helped us grow our chemistry and our mental toughness to overcome any challenges that might be thrown at us throughout the season."
Only four goals were scored in total between the two squads in the first quarter, with the Loggers capitalizing on the first three before freshman attacker Jillian Phillips muscled a goal in from within a couple of yards from the goal to give Corban a 3-1 deficit leading into the second quarter.
While the Warriors were able to score three goals in the second quarter, their defense struggled to keep the Loggers off the scoreboard as well, surrendering six goals to trail 9-4 at the halftime break.
Despite trailing by five goals, the Navy and Gold stuck to their game plan held tough against Puget Sound in the third quarter, allowing just one goal in the first nine minutes while scoring five of their own to pull within a single score. Phillips had scored her third and fourth goal in that time span, while four other Corban attackers/midfielders found the back of the net as well.
The Loggers managed to end the period on a 2-0 run, meaning the Warriors needed to dig deep and overcome a three-goal deficit in the final quarter if they wanted to complete the comeback opportunity.
The teams traded goals for the first eight minutes of the quarter, before sophomore attacker Megan Lia and junior attacker Sydney Davis scored back-to-back goals to cut the Puget Sound lead to only a single goal after leading by as many as six in the first half.
With the scoreboard timer quickly counting down and possessions on the offensive end coming up short, the uphill challenge the Warriors sought to defeat in the second half got that much tougher with a late goal from Loggers' attacker Kaitlin Wallace, who scored via a man-up scenario to improve the advantage to 16-14 with less than three minutes remaining.
Puget Sound played lockdown defense over the final minutes to keep the Warriors off the board, thus resulting in a narrow 16-14 loss in their first official road game of the season.
Warriors' junior starting goalkeeper Payton Nuse and the Corban defense struggled to contain the Loggers in the opening half, leading to her second loss after allowing 16 goals and snagging a game-high 14 saves.
Puget Sound starting goalkeeper Phoebe Crowther earned her second win on the year with an 11-save, 14-goals allowed performance in the net.
Phillips added another five goals to her 2023 season this afternoon against the Loggers, while Davis clutched another hat trick in the final quarter for her second-straight of the year. Freshman attacker Naomi Rauch added two goals and two assists on the offensive end, while Lia secured her first hat trick of the season with three goals and an assist.
Loggers' midfielder Cat Schilli was all over the offensive end of the field to secure a game-high six goals in 10 shots, while midfielder Emily LaRiviere dropped four goals and a game-high five assists.
Corban Women's Lacrosse will return to action next Wednesday as they look to finally play a CCC school in Multnomah University in Portland, as both teams have been trying to get this game in for weeks now but have had to cancel due to weather and other extenuating circumstances. They will battle the Lions at 6:30pm PDT on Multnomah's campus on the 22nd next week.
Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter l Instagram l Snapchat l YouTube l Email
Download our App: iOS (iPhone/iPad) l Android
