ALBION, Mich. – The Trine University women's lacrosse team battled Albion College on Saturday with the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) regular season title hanging in the balance. The Thunder (10-4, 5-2 MIAA) sent the game to overtime for the fourth time this season, but ultimately came up short against the Britons (13-3, 6-1 MIAA), 18-17.
The loss drops Trine into a three-way tie with Saint Mary's College and Hope College. The Thunder fall to the fourth seed due to the tiebreaker of goal differential in games against one another. Therefore, Trine will return to Albion to face the top-seeded Britons in the MIAA Championship Semifinals on Wednesday, May 4.
Liv Ghent [Byron Center, Mich. / Caledonia] provided an early edge with a pair of goals in the opening minutes. In the middle stages of the first quarter, Albion was able to score their first two goals of the contest, but the Thunder outscored their opponents 2-1 with scores by Brooke Hoag [Portage, Mich. / Portage] and Alyssa Keptner [Midland, Mich. / H.H. Dow].
Ella Dougherty [Lowell, Mich. / Lowell] etched her name in the scorebook to make it 5-3 just 12 seconds into the second. A 7-2 run by the home team gave the Britons a 10-7 lead at halftime.
Trine went down by as many as five in the third quarter, but the Thunder made a 4-2 run over the final 10 minutes of the period to inch their way back into the game. Courtney Rhodes [Monee, Ill. / Providence Catholic] and Nikki Hibler [West Lafayette, Ind. / Harrison] each tallied goals in the frame, including Hibler's with 27 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Both teams stayed off the board through the first five minutes of play in the fourth, but Rhodes sparked a three-point run by Trine in less than one minute. Calista Richmond [Portage, Mich. / Portage] found Ghent for her fourth and fifth assists of the game, which breaks the program's individual career record. She finished the day with 42 career assists. Those three goals tied the game back up at 15 all with 8:55 left in regulation.
Danielle Gargiulo [Downers Grove, Ill. / Downers Grove] found the back of the net to answer an Albion score with just over six minutes to play. Richmond would score her first goal of the game less than one minute later to give the Thunder a 17-16 lead.
Just before the end of regulation, the Britons were able to get a good look at the net and score to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, goalie Jillian Rejczyk [Wauconda, Ill. / Wauconda] made a key save on the Britons' first offensive attempt. Richmond went the other way and fired a shot on goal, but that would be saved by the Albion keeper to extend the game.
Trine looked as though they had the game and the regular season championship won, but confusion caused by the would-be goal allowed the Britons to storm down the field and fire a shot passed the defense to obtain the 18-17 win.
The Thunder won draw controls 31-9 to secure a new school record for most in a single game, but had 17 turnovers compared to Albion's six. Ghent scored a team-high six goals with Richmond also securing six points, five coming on assists. Ghent's 13 draw controls breaks the program record for most in a game as well. Rejczyk (8-3) made 10 saves in goal.
