Women’s Lacrosse Earns First Win Of Spring Over Bobcats

The sighs of relief coming from Ashland University's women's lacrosse team following its 19-5 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday (March 19) afternoon at Ferguson Field were certainly understandable.
 
Thanks to a complete team showing which resulted in school records for largest margin of victory and fewest goals allowed, the Eagles snapped a 17-game losing streak dating back to last season and improved to 1-5 this spring. The Bobcats are 1-3.
 
"We needed that to mentally prepare for conference play," said Ashland head coach Lauren Simko. "They've been working really hard, and they have not been rewarded the way we wanted, so this is a well-earned victory."
 
Said junior midfielder Natalie Sonntag, "It feels awesome. It's been a long time coming. Today, we really worked together. We were excited for today, and we made it happen."
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• Leading 3-2 early in the game, the Eagles scored 11 of the next 13 goals in first half and took a 14-4 lead into the break. Sonntag had four goals in the first two quarters – most for any Eagle in a game so far this spring.
• Ashland kept up the pace in the second half, outscoring the Bobcats 5-1 in the second half.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• The Eagles' 19 goals came from seven different players – Sonntag and junior midfielder Cassady Becker with four goals each, junior midfielder Madie Gash with a hat trick, and two goals each from freshman attacker Camryn English, senior attacker Isabelle Pisani, junior attacker Emily Jewell and senior midfielder Cora Wilson.
• "One thing that was great about today is we showed that everybody on attack can score," Simko said. "They can't take one single person out."
• Wilson added three assists to join Sonntag and Gash with five points each.
• Senior Nadine Elbarrad (one save) and sophomore Jillian Rekulak (two saves) combined for the program-best showing in net.
• Ashland out-shot West Virginia Wesleyan by a 41-15 count, and forced 22 turnovers in the victory.
• "We spent a lot of time working on defense," Simko said, "…and I think it's finally starting to pay off."

 
UP NEXT
The Eagles' next game is Tuesday (March 22) at 6 p.m. at Lake Erie (1-3) – Ashland's first Great Midwest Athletic Conference contest.
 
"It brought morale up, and I think we're all really excited. We needed this," Sonntag said.