SALEM, Ore. – In their final regular season contest of the 2024 season, the Corban University Women's Lacrosse team left no doubt in establishing themselves as the premiere NAIA program in the Pacific Northwest, as they celebrated their five senior student-athletes with an overwhelming 18-8 result over Eastern Oregon University earlier this afternoon.
"This game was a great way to end our 2024 season," Warriors' head coach Meredith Pinkerton explained. "Our team has worked so hard this year and to see that work come to fruition in such a well-played final game is amazing. Despite having low numbers, we have fought hard each and every game, and being able to come out with results like this is not something that was easy to achieve. I am so proud of this team and what we have been able to accomplish."
After a somewhat quiet opening for the Warriors (4-2) and Mountaineers (0-11) in their third-consecutive matchup, the offensive floodgates officially opened with five-straight goals by Corban, as senior attackers Megan Lia and Sydney Davis traded on-and-off every goal before EOU finally got two back. The first quarter concluded with a last second goal by freshman midfielder Elsie Marineau, whereas the first half wrapped up with a 3-0 scoring advantage by the Navy and Gold.
By the halftime horn, Lia and Davis had already clinched their hat trick performances, while sophomore attacker Naomi Rauch was right behind them at two goals herself. Senior goalkeeper Payton Nuse was up to six saves and only three goals allowed in her final half of collegiate lacrosse between the posts.
To kick off the second half, senior defender Amelia Bossard scored her second career goal five and a half minutes into the third quarter. One Eastern Oregon goal later, and Nuse jumped in on the scoring action for the first time in her four-year Corban career, scoring a goal unassisted to push the Warrior advantage to 12-4. Lia added another two scores before Nuse took over the final two minutes of play, scoring her second and third goals for the incredibly rare goalkeeper hat trick.
Lia's dominant offensive outing in her final college women's lacrosse contest concluded in the fourth quarter with both of the Navy and Gold's goals, giving her seven on the day to replicate her same performance against the Mountaineers just last week for a double hat trick. Davis finished with four goals to wrap up the top spot on the all-time career scoring leaderboard with 91 goals in her four-year career.
In storybook fashion, the final senior performance to raise the Warrior Nation fans in attendance to their feet came from senior defender/attacker Katie Beebe, who dished out a game-high three assists to wrap up a perfect Senior Day outing for the women's lacrosse program.
The Warriors conclude the 2024 regular season with a 4-2 overall record, tying their best finish in both wins and winning percentage in program history when they had the exact same record in 2022. Coach Pinkerton finishes her first season as the team's head coach with a 66.7% winning percentage, the highest for a single head coach thus far in the program's short history.
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