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KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State women's lacrosse used a huge third quarter run to take a 16-14 lead, but Lindenwood answered back by scoring the final four goals of the game to escape with a 22-18 win over the Owls on Saturday afternoon from Fifth Third Stadium. KSU dropped to 4-7 overall in their Atlantic Sun Conference opener, while Lindenwood improved to 8-1 for the year.
KEY PLAYERS: Senior
Alyssa Angelo tied for the team lead in goals with four and added two assists for six points, while freshman
Lexi Tinker also posted four goals.
Shannon Harrington and
Lavona Watkins also notched hat tricks on the afternoon for KSU.
THE RUNDOWN: The visitors came out hot, scoring five goals in the first eight minutes for a 5-1 advantage. Back-to-back scores from freshman
Marleigh Belinfanti along with Watkins' first goal brought the Owls within 5-4, and it was a 7-5 contest with 11:22 to play in the second quarter. The Lions then reeled off four unanswered, and would go into halftime with a 13-7 advantage.
It was a motivated Owl squad that came out to start the third quarter, with three straight scores to bring KSU within 13-10. After the Lions scored to go back up four, a 6-0 KSU run, with goals from five different players, soared the Owls into a 16-14 lead with 2:23 left in the third quarter. It was still a two-goal lead at the start of the fourth when the Lions used a 3-0 run to take back the lead at 18-17.
Alyssa Angelo answered the run at 4:43 to knot the score at 18-18, bu that was the last goal of the afternoon for the Owls, and 13 seconds later the Lions scored the first of four unanswered to clinch the win.
POSTGAME QUOTES – HEAD COACH LAURA MANESS
"I want to start out by giving a shout out to
Sophia Nunez in the circle, they dominated us last year on draw controls and had an early edge today but she did great work in helping us get 19 in the final three quarters after just one in the first. That really helped to put us in a position to win, we came into this game studying them and worked hard on that and she and rest of the team really gave us a chance to win thanks to an inspired overall team effort team."
NOTES
-KSU held onto the ball in the game, finishing with just 14 turnovers to 14 for the Lions.
-Draw controls overall for the game were in the Lions' favor 23-20, but it was 19-15 over the final three quarters.
-KSU was just 2-of-9 on free-position shots in the game, 0-5 in the second half, while Lindenwood went 5-7 in the game, 3-3 after halftime.
NEXT UP: The Owls continue with ASUN action as they go on the road to Deland, Fla., to face the Stetson Hatters on Saturday, March 29 at 1 p.m.
