MEQUON, Wis. - It was a tough way to end the season for the Trine University women’s lacrosse team as their hopes for a Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference Tournament bid ended with a 17-10 loss to Concordia (WI). The Thunder end the season with a 2-7 record overall and finish their final season in the MWLC with a record of 3-4.
Trine needed to defeat Concordia to secure a spot in the conference tournament, after qualifying as the third seed a season ago.
The two teams battled it out in first half as Trine senior Ashley Kocsis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) netted the game’s first goal just 34 seconds in. The Falcons scored the next two goals before senior Emily Shreeve (Manchester, Md./North Carroll) scored back-to-back goals to re-take the lead.
Concordia answered with two goals of the own before senior Shelly Raupp (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills) scored on a free position shot to tie the game at four.
Concordia would score back-to-back goals with 16 minutes left to take the lead again before Raupp and Shreeve ended the period scoring goals to tie the game at six going into halftime.
The Falcons would score the first three goals of the half as Trine was never able to recover. The Thunder were forced to play a man down for the final 26:40 of the game as a second yellow card was issued to a player.
Kocsis would score for Trine with just over 19 minutes left on an assist from junior Emily Canepa (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West), but Concordia would answer with three straight goals to put the game out of reach.
Raupp would score twice more in the final 13 minutes and Canepa added one of her own with 2:47 left in the game.
Raupp led the Thunder with four goals on the day as she finished the season with 20. Shreeve recorded a hat trick in the game while Kocsis added two goals and an assist. Canepa tallied a goal and an assist on the day.
Defensively for Trine, Kocsis led the way with a team-high five draw controls and two groundballs. Sophomore Kenzie Boyer (Angola, Ind./Angola) also picked up two groundballs for the Thunder.
Between the pipes for Trine, freshman Grace Garrett (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) made seven saves on the afternoon.
Trine out-shot the Falcons 35-34, but Concordia was able to use the extra player to out-score the Thunder 11-4 in the second half. Trine held a 9-8 groundball advantage, but the Falcons won 17-10 on draw controls. The Thunder cleared 8-of-12 opportunities while Concordia was 7-of-10. Trine committed two fewer turnovers (9-7) than Concordia for the game.
Raupp (85), Kocsis (83), and Shreeve (65) finish their four seasons as Trine as the second, third and fourth leading goal scorers in school history. Kocsis also finished her career with the most assists (20), groundballs (156), caused turnovers (59) and draw controls (122) in team history.
