Angola, Ind. – Trine's women's lacrosse team defeated Wilmington, 20-10, in its season opener Saturday afternoon at Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium.
Head coach Madeline Dugan was victorious in her first game coaching for the Thunder. Elena Gallego (Norwald, Calif. / Santa Fe) led Trine's offensive attack with a career-high five goals in the game. Rebecca Plantz (DeWitt, Mich. / DeWitt) contributed four goals and caused six turnovers to lead the defense. Samantha Ihrie (Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble) and Kiersten Osowski (Granger, Ind. / Elkhart Memorial) both picked up their first career goal in today's win.
Audrey Poteet (Indianapolis, Ind. / Ben Davis) was credited the win in the net today. Poteet had six saves to help on the defensive side.
Trine collected 24 ground balls to Wilmington's 14 and outshot the Quakers by a 38-26 margin. The Thunder was successful in 10 of its 15 clear attempts. Trine held the Quakers to 8-15 for its clear attempts.
Becca Petra led Wilmington's offense with five goals.
Trine drew first blood off a free position for Plantz early in the first half. Wilmington's Rachel Brown came back with goal coming from an assist by Rachel Reinhart to tie the score back up minutes later. Petra put the Quakers up 2-1 at the 20 mark of the game. Laura Rosekrans (Williamston, Mich. / Williamston) tied the score back up to two apiece, when she went coast to coast for her first goal of the season. Seconds later Hannah Gratsch scored a goal to give the advantage back to Wilmington. Ihrie scored her first career goal at the half way point of the first half to tie the game back up to 3-3. Gallego a minute later scored her first of her five goals off a free position and gave the Thunder the lead for good.
Gallego notched another two goals in the first half. Plantz scored her second, followed by Bailey Brown (Sheridan, Ind. Westfield) in the Thunder's six goal run over Wilmington. Trine led 9-5 over the Quakers going into the second half.
At the 27:58 mark of the second Plantz scored her third goal and set up another six-goal run for the Thunder. Gallego, Brown, and Anne Mammel (Tecumseh, Mich. / Tecumseh) all had goals during the run. Trine went on to score another five goals in the second half to give them the 20-10 victory over the Quakers.
Trine starts off its season 1-0 and Wilmington falls to 0-1.
Trine will return to action Wednesday, March 7, when it hosts opponent Concordia. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Article courtesy of Cody Koniecki, Trine University, Communications '17