GRANVILLE, Ohio - The Saint Mary's lacrosse team weathered everything thrown at them and battled until the final whistle in a 27-5 setback against No. 14 Catholic University in an NCAA Tournament First Round competition.

 

Each side saw their first shot on goal in the game turned away by a save to open play. The Cardinals took the lead with a free position goal, but the Belles responded right back. Sarah Frick came away with the next draw control, and Bridge Kane fed a pass to a cutting Shannon McCloskey as McCloskey put away her first shot of the game to knot the score at 1-1. The Cardinals used a strong presence on the draw circle as Catholic came away with the next six draws and were able to generate offense along the way for a 7-1 lead. Bridget Kane, however, broke up that streak of draw controls as the senior snagged a draw and collected her second assist of the game moments later as Erin Dotson put away her first goal. The assist gave Kane her 200th career point for the Belles to become the third player in program history to surpass the 200-point plateau. Alexis Fady made three saves over the next two minutes of action, but the Cardinals used a quick-passing sequence after a free position to make it 8-2. Another late goal in the quarter pushed the Cardinals' advantage to 9-2 at the first break.

 

Catholic tallied the first goal of the second quarter to make it 10-2. Saint Mary's took advantage of a yellow card after a strong defensive stop as the Cardinals were whistled for a dangerous propelling call on what would have been a possession clock violation. Dotson buried a player-up free position on an empty net after a foul was called in the critical scoring area against the Catholic goalie to cut the deficit to 10-3 less than six minutes into the quarter. The Cardinals, however, put five goals up on the scoreboard for a 15-3 lead. 

 

Lightning in the area as the half concluded led to a four-plus hour stoppage in play as thunderstorms remained in the area.

 

Nearly five hours after the conclusion of the first half, the game resumed at 8:00 p.m. as the Cardinals netted a pair of early goals in the third quarter. Bridget Kane, however, took things into her own hands and cut right up the middle of the Catholic defense and put away a goal with just over ten minutes left on the  clock in the period. The Cardinals responded with three consecutive goals. In the closing moments of the quarter, Emma Zmudzinski made a strong save, the Belles pushed the ball upfield, and a solid pass by Shannon McCloskey found Katie Haas cutting through the critical scoring area as Haas put away a goal for the Belles.

 

Catholic, however, tallied seven goals over the final 15 minutes of play for the 27-5 final score.

 

Bridget Kane surpassed 200 career points with a pair of assists and a goal to help lead the Belles. Kane added a team-best five draw controls and a ground ball. Erin Dotson registered the first multi-goal effort in an NCAA Tournament by a player for the program as the junior tallied two goals. Shannon McCloskey had a multi-point effort with a goal and an assist with a ground ball. Katie Haas posted a goal of her own. Sarah Frick came away with three draw controls in the contest. Valentina Rubio had a game-high four ground balls and caused a turnover. Kaitlyn King, Kathleen Soller, and Christiana Singler each recorded a caused turnover, and Singler and Lindsey Herdsman each picked up a ground ball. Alexis Fady posted 11 saves in goal, including a save on the final shot on goal of the game. Emma Zmudzinski made a pair of saves in goal for the Belles.

 

The Belles end the season 11-7 with their second NCAA Tournament appearance.