ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's lacrosse team mounted a magnificent second-half offensive attack to overcome an early eight-goal deficit, but ultimately dropped their Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) contest against Calvin University by the score of 18-14.
The Knights started the contest on an offensive tear scoring the first eight goals of the game to take an 8-0 lead with just over 19 minutes remaining in the first half.
Freshman Nikki Hibler (West Lafayette, Ind. / Harrison) finally put the Thunder on the board with 18 minutes remaining in the half. The team would go on to outscore the opposition over the final ten minutes of the half cutting the lead to 12-6 as the teams headed to intermission.
Trine would go on two scoring streaks in the second half to cut the deficit even further. The first streak came between 26 minutes and 24 minutes remaining in the game when the team scored three unanswered goals. Senior Kristen Nguyen (Locust Grove, Ga. / Luella), junior Liv Ghent (Byron Center, Mich. / Caledonia) and freshman Danielle Gargiulo (Downers Grove, Ill. / Downers Grove) each tallied a goal during the stretch.
Calvin would score the next two goals, but then the Thunder would take four straight cutting the deficit to just one at 14-13 with 15:14 remaining in the contest. It was as close as the team could get however as the Knights would pull away in the final minutes to take the contest 18-14.
Trine boasted a balanced offensive attack in the contest with six different student-athletes recording at least one goal. Ghent, Gargiulo and senior Kristin John (South Bend, Ind. / St. Joe's) each finished with three goals in the contest. Nguyen and sophomore Ella Dougherty (Lowell, Mich. / Lowell) each finished with two while Hibler tallied just one.
Ghent led the way offensively by finishing the game with four assists in addition to her goals.
The Thunder fall to 5-8 overall and 1-5 in MIAA play following the loss. They will await final pairings for the MIAA women's lacrosse tournament which is set to begin on Saturday, April 24.