SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The trio of senior Anna Smith, junior Greta Maurer and first-year Gillian Joseph combined for 11 goals and five assists to lead the Union College women's lacrosse team to a hard-fought 17-15 victory over Clarkson University in a key Liberty League matchup on Friday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
The win was an important one for Union (7-4, 5-2 Liberty League) in the race for the conference standings, keeping the Garnet Chargers in third place in the Liberty League with three games remaining.
Smith matched her career high with six points on the day, scoring four goals and adding two assists, while Maurer's three goals and three assists for six points tied her career high in all three categories. Joseph tied for the team lead with four tallies, while classmates Hannah Compa and Maddy Schiller chipped in a pair of goals each as well.
Clarkson (8-5, 3-4 Liberty League) was paced by Madelynn Barnum with a game-high eight goals and Julia Lavarnway with three goals and four assists.
Much of the first half was filled with back-and-forth action, with the teams alternating goals for the first 17 minutes before Clarkson used a 4-1 run to take a 6-4 lead with 8:00 left in the second quarter. But Maurer had three goals and an assist as the home team closed the second stanza with four straight goals, including two tallies in the final 22 seconds of the period from Maurer and Schiller to take an 8-6 lead into halftime.
The Golden Knights started the third quarter with a 4-1 run to take its last lead of the game at 10-9, but goals from Joseph and Smith 79 seconds apart quickly got the home team back on top with 5:51 to go in the third. Twice Clarkson scored to tie the game, but each time Union had an answer to take back the lead in the early stages of the fourth frame.
Smith helped swing the momentum back to Union with two goals in 41 seconds, starting a string of three goals in 81 ticks of the clock that put the Garnet Chargers up 15-12 with 8:54 remaining after Schiller's second of the day. Playing with a three-goal lead for the first time all afternoon, the offense had near-immediate responses to Clarkson's next two tallies to secure the win, with Compa depositing a feed from Maurer with 7:12 left and Joseph scoring off a caused turnover by sophomore Lana Mickelson with 3:32 remaining.
Union finished the game with a 32-28 edge in shots, with sophomore Sydney Widlitz and senior Hannah Dubinsky making two saves each in the win. Sophomore Claudia Patz led the defensive effort with three ground balls and two caused turnovers and first-year Anna Dembowski added three ground balls and one caused turnover, as Union won the turnover battle 22-12.
Union returns to action tomorrow with another key Liberty League matchup against St. Lawrence University beginning at 3 p.m. at Frank Bailey Field.
