After securing its first win of the season at North Central on Feb. 28, Saint Mary’s lacrosse went a long time without truly being in a game. The Belles lost five consecutive contests by 11 goals or more, struggling to keep games close.
Staying in games hasn’t been the problem lately, though. The Belles took Alma to overtime on Wednesday. They followed that up with a double-overtime rock fight against Adrian on Saturday.
But Saint Mary’s came out on the wrong end of both games, most recently falling 12-11 to the Bulldogs. The Belles have now lost seven consecutive games and sit at 1-9 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Neither team led by more than three goals at any point in Saturday’s game, but it looked as if the Belles might early on. Sophomore attacker Alyssa Grant came out firing for Saint Mary’s, scoring three straight goals within the game’s first six minutes to open up a 3-0 Belles lead. Grant ended up contributing a game-high five points, adding two assists later in the day.
Adrian marched back into the game quickly, as Maggie Bean’s tying goal followed a Mariana Miller hat trick to level the score at 4-4 early in the second quarter. Both teams defended well down the stretch before halftime, and the Belles held a 6-5 lead at the game’s midway point.
With the game already close, Adrian put all sorts of pressure on Saint Mary’s in the second half. The Bulldogs controlled 10 of 13 available draws in the final 30 minutes, threatening to pull away with the game. Halfway through the third quarter, they took their first lead of the day at 8-7 on Miller’s fourth goal of the game. Bean added another after an equalizing goal from freshman attacker Lana Skibins, moving the game to the fourth quarter with Adrian up one.
Early in the final period, Bean’s third goal of the day widened Adrian’s lead to two for the first time. But Saint Mary’s, on a free position shot by freshman midfielder Cate Krema, drew even at 10 with exactly seven minutes to play in regulation.
With 2:57 remaining, Sarah Gross sent Adrian back into the lead at 11-10. Needing an answer to stay alive, the Belles pulled through in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Freshman midfielder Kathryn Kalinowski, using a setup from Grant, delivered the tying goal with 15 ticks remaining on the clock, forcing the game to overtime.
Throughout the first overtime period, a scoreless one, Emma Zmudzinksi made a massive save in the Saint Mary’s cage. Overall, the junior goalie finished with 10 stops while facing 22 shots.
At one point, the Belles thought they had won the game on a goal by senior attacker Julia Gorski. But a rule review overturned the potential game-winner, giving Adrian a second life on the other side. The Bulldogs took full advantage, ending the game in the second period of overtime on Lucia Commare’s free position shot.
The next opportunity for the Belles to get off the schneid comes Tuesday with a conference game at Trine that begins at 7 p.m.
