SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Senior
Christina Guanci scored Union College's last three goals – including the go-ahead tally with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter – to lead the Garnet Chargers past St. Lawrence University, 10-9, in a tense Liberty League women's lacrosse matchup on Friday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
Guanci finished the day with a career-high five points, scoring four goals and adding an assist to play a role in half the team's tallies. Senior
Lana Mickelson and junior
Gillian Joseph added two goals and two assists each, while senior
Maddie Doyle and sophomore
Stella Del Papa added a goal apiece for Union (4-4, 3-0 Liberty League).
Defensively, junior
Anna Dembowski led all players with five ground balls and tied senior
Sammy Johnson for the team lead with three caused turnovers, while senior
Sydney Widlitz made eight saves. Junior
Hannah Compa also had a big day with nine draw controls, as the home team held a huge 15-6 edge on draws.
The first 45 minutes were evenly played on both sides. Union outshot St. Lawrence (4-6, 1-4 Liberty League) by a 12-5 margin in the first quarter but both teams found the net three times, and the middle two frames featured only three goals for both sides. Widlitz made six saves in the second quarter to keep Union in the game, while the teams combined for just six shots in the third period to send the game into the fourth tied at six.
The game down to a pivotal fourth frame, with the teams alternating goals for the entirety of the 15 minutes. Doyle gave Union a 7-6 lead 2:54 into the period, and Guanci put Union up again 8-7 with a free-position strike only to see SLU knot the score again 27 seconds later. The see-saw kept going as the teams continued to trade tallies until Guanci finally put Union up 10-9 with 3:03 left on another eight-meter score. The Saints had two chances to tie the score in the final minutes, but the visitors did not back up a shot to give possession back to the home team and then turned the ball over in the last 30 seconds to allow the home team to escape with the win.
Union will be back in action tomorrow with a 3 p.m. matchup against Clarkson University at Frank Bailey Field.
