OLIVET, Mich.-- The Trine women's lacrosse team rallied back from a late deficit to notch its first win of the season with a 9-7 victory over Olivet Wednesday night at Cutler Athletic Complex.
The Thunder faced a 7-5 deficit with 7:48 to play, but fought back with four unanswered goals to earn the victory. Rebecca Plantz (DeWitt, Mich. / DeWitt) scored with 1:55 remaining to give Trine the lead and provide what would prove to be the game-winner. Elena Gallego (Norwalk, Calif. / Santa Fe) scored a career-high three goals to pace the Thunder offensive attack. Trine improved to 1-9 on the season and 1-5 in conference play. Olivet fell to 0-10 overall, 0-7 in the MIAA.
Anne Mammel (Tecumseh, Mich. / Tecumseh) scored two goals and dished out two assists for a season-high four-point effort for the Thunder. Mammel also collected a team-high five ground balls. Plantz matched Gallego's three-point effort with two goals and an assist.
Whitney Shaffer (Tipton, Ind. / Tri-Central) and Laura Rosekrans (Williamston, Mich. / Williamston) each scored their first-career goals for Trine. Shaffer added a team-high four caused turnovers, while Rosekrans notched three ground balls.
Cecilia Bayne scored three goals to lead the Comets offensively. Kara Dishaw added two goals, while Hannah Cook and Krystin Verran each notched a goal and an assist. Xavier Vance made 16 saves in net for Olivet.
Gallego got the Thunder on the board first with an early goal, but the Comets scored three-straight to take a 3-1 lead in the first half. The first of Mammel's goals, coming off Alexandria Burke's (Granger, Ind. / Penn) first career assist cut the deficit to one with 1:17 to play. Olivet would take a 4-2 lead into the half on Dishaw's goal with 13 seconds remaining in the first half.
Three-straight Trine goals gave the Thunder the lead midway through the second half. Mammel cut the deficit to one again with an unassisted tally, before assisting on Shaffer's first-career goal to tie the score. Plantz's first goal made the score 5-4 in favor of the Thunder with 15:23 to play.
A Comet goal just 13 seconds later jump-started a three-goal Olivet run. That made the score 7-5 heading to the deciding stretch.
Back-to-back goals by Gallego tied the score. The first of those came off a pass from Mammel, while the second came on a free-position attempt to tie the score with 5:12 to play.
Plantz scored what would prove to be the game-winner with 1:55 to play. Her unassisted tally was her team-leading 11th of the season. Rosekrans added an insurance goal with her first-career tally off a pass from Plantz with 47 seconds left to seal the win.
Caity Rose (Hamilton, Ind. / Hamilton) earned her first career win in goal. The sophomore made seven saves.
Trine wraps up the season this Saturday, Apr. 30 when the Thunder host Alma at 1 p.m. Trine will honor its senior class prior to the game.
