ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's lacrosse team sent their seniors out with a bang, cruising to a 18-7 victory over visiting Calvin University on the final day of the regular season. The win puts the team in a tie for second place in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings.
The Thunder got the offense rolling right form the start, scoring seven goals in the first period to build a 7-1 lead for the start of the second. Calista Richmond came up with the first of the day in the fourth minute of the game.
After the lone goal by the Knights, the home team went on a six-goal run with Courtney Rhodes, Elizabeth Larson, Nikki Hibler and Alyssa Keptner each scoring a goal while Danielle Gargiulo put up a pair.
Calvin scored twice in the second period, but the Thunder still built on their lead taking an 11-3 score to the half. After the visitors scored first in the period, Keptner went back-to-back within a minute to make the score 9-2. Gargiulo sandwiched the other Knights' goal with two of her own, including one in the final ten seconds of the half.
Trine pulled away further in the third period, scoring five unanswered goals and starting the running clock. Hibler started the scoring, before Gargiulo added her fifth and Richmond added her second. Rhodes scored the final two goals in the quarter.
The Knights made a comeback attempt in the fourth, but it was too little too late with the game ending in the 18-7 score. Brooke Hoag and Lillian O'Neal each scored for Trine in the period.
Gargiulo was the team leader in the game, leading the way with five goals, two assists and seven draw controls. Hibler also recorded a pair of assists while adding two goals of her own. Keptner and Rhodes both finished second on the team with three goals. Hoag was second on the team with six draw controls.
Maddy Kasten made the start in net for the team and ended the day with ten saves while allowing four goals in her 52 minutes of play. Hoag finished with three caused turnovers and Larson led the team with three groundballs.
The team improves to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in MIAA play. They finish the regular season in a tie for second in the MIAA standings, losing the tiebreaker to Kalamazoo College to serve as the three-seed. They will travel to face Kalamazoo in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday, May 1.