Petrucelli leads UMW to victory

By LIZ EISEMAN

After a loss to York College last Saturday, the University of Mary Washington women’s lacrosse team found its stride in a match against the Washington and Lee (W&L) Generals, winning 14-7 on Saturday, April 13.

With 22 minutes still left to play in the first half, the Eagles were up by only two goals, but the team had a goal to control possession, starting with the draw.

“Last Sunday, we focused on working to possess the ball, which started from being first to the draw,” said sophomore midfielder Emily Atkinson. The Eagles won a total of nine draw controls.

UMW was awarded the ball again less than a minute later, although fierce competition from W&L caused a turnover. Not to be deterred, the Eagles intercepted a pass, which led to an Atkinson fast break. She found senior attacker Keller Torrey, who then put the ball in the cage. W&L was forced to call a time out, as its deficit was pushed to 4-1.

When play resumed with 17:33 left, the Eagles won yet another draw. W&L quickly regained possession, and Generals midfielder Meade Brewster scored off a free position shot to bring the score to 4-2.

The Generals, inspired by their time out speech and Brewster’s goal, went on to score two more goals, while the Eagles scored just one, bringing the score to 5-4.

A W&L turnover allowed Torrey to find sophomore attacker Corinne Wiederkehr for a goal with less than three minutes to go in the first half. The score stayed with Mary Washington in favor, 6-4.

After the half, the Eagles’ started to pull away. Junior midfielder Katie Williams hit teammate junior midfielder Jenna Petrucelli with a pass to give her a third goal for the game. When Mary Washington was awarded a free position shot shortly after, Torrey found the net, increasing the Eagles’ lead to four.

In response to two more Generals goals, Petrucelli and Gersbeck combined for four more goals, bringing the score to 12-6. In a vain attempt to keep up, W&L scored, though Petrucelli answered with two more goals, making the final score 14-7.

Mary Washington had a few multi-goal scorers. Petrucelli scored seven, Gersbeck scored three and Torrey notched two. Atkinson and Torrey also added a hat trick of assists each.

To Atkinson, the win was the result of the Eagles’ team chemistry.

“[We came] together as a team, working to jam our cutters on defense and set each other up on offense,” Atkinson said.

The Eagles ripped 10 more shots than the Generals, and scooped three more groundballs. The Generals had more turnovers, 25-15, but also handled more draw controls, 14-9. Both teams received two yellow cards, three occurring during the second half as the competition heated up.

With just two more games left in the regular season before CAC tournament play, Mary Washington will travel to Marymount University on Wednesday, April 17, and then host Lynchburg College on Saturday, April 20, at the UMW Battleground.

The Eagles have an overall record of 8-6 and a conference record of 3-2. When hosting games at the Battleground, the Eagles have gone 5-3. They are currently ranked fifth in the South Atlantic region, according to NCAA reports.