LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Corban University Women's Lacrosse program returned to .500 overall on the season with a dominant 20-7 road victory over fellow NAIA school Eastern Oregon University, where the Warriors' offense was as consistent as they've been all year long with multiple goals scored in every quarter en route to the blowout win to start a two-game winning streak.
"Today was an exciting win, and we're very grateful to EOU for matching our current healthy numbers and giving us our first opportunity to play an even game this season," Warriors' first-year head coach Meredith Pinkerton explained. "Every player on the offensive end of the field scored a goal today, which is such a huge accomplishment and a testament to our team chemistry. I am so happy to see the team continue to exemplify good sportsmanship throughout both the wins and losses this season."
Despite allowing the first goal of the game to Eastern Oregon (0-6), the Warriors (2-2) responded with four-straight goals and continued the trend throughout the first half, with the Mountaineers scoring a single goal in-between three separate four-goal streaks for Corban. By the time the halftime horn sounded, the Navy and Gold had established an overwhelming 13-4 lead and forcing the Mountaineers into a difficult situation on their own home field.
The nine-goal lead with 30 minutes of play remaining wasn't enough for the Warriors to feel comfortable despite their offensive success, as the Mounties were still finding ways to pierce the Corban defense and stay within striking distance. After senior attacker Sydney Davis scored the first goal of the second half, Eastern Oregon scored their first back-to-back goals of the day within a minute, compelling Coach Pinkerton and her team to rethink their approach.
Four different Warriors stepped up to score the next four goals to push the lead to double digits and keep the clock running, which eventually led to only two goals being scored the entirety of the fourth quarter, both of which belonged to the Navy and Gold. Warriors' senior goalkeeper Payton Nuse was able to secure a fourth-quarter shutout to keep the Mountaineers pinned at seven goals on the day, a season-low mark for teams playing against Corban that allowed Nuse to earn the eighth win of her career with 11 saves and seven goals allowed.
The Warriors dominated every facet of the game, highlighted by a 32-19 shot differential and besting EOU in two-thirds of their faceoffs. Only one Corban student-athlete was prevented from scoring on multiple occasions, yet that didn't stop the program from celebrating freshman defender Amelia Bossard's first career goal.
Freshman midfielder Elsie Marineau was the team leader on offense, scoring a game-high and career-best five goals with one of the team's four assists. Sophomore midfielder Kailyn Dawkins was right behind Marineau with four goals, followed by Davis and sophomore attacker Naomi Rauch who scored three times apiece.
For the Mountaineers, midfielder Maddy Woodruff and defender Claire Bever were the only student-athletes with multi-scoring outings, with the duo scoring on two occasions each. Goalkeeper Sydney Vopat was held responsible for the loss decision today after allowing 20 goals and snagging eight saves.
The Warriors and Mounties will match up next on Sunday, April 7th at 1pm at the Outdoor Athletic Complex, as Corban will compete on their home turf for the remainder of the regular season throughout April and looking to clinch their second winning season in program history.
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