NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's lacrosse team outlasted visiting Trine in an 11-10 final on Senior Night at the Purcell Athletic Fields on Tuesday evening.

 

An early re-defend by the Belles led to the first goal of the game as Valentina Rubio connected with a cutting Molly Mullett to lead Mullett finding the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage. The two sides played a tight 11 minute-plus stretch of the first quarter. Alyssa Grant, Erin Dotson, and Reese Bauer all had at least one shot on goal saved while the defense shut down any look at a shot by Trine over that same span of play. A free position chance was earned by Valentina Rubio late in the period, and the sophomore buried the chance for a 2-0 lead with 49 seconds to go in the quarter. Erin Dotson won the next draw control, and Rubio connected with Mullett for a second time for a 3-0 lead with 31 seconds on the clock.

 

Rubio and Mullett connected again to open the second quarter as Mullett completed an early hat trick while giving the Belles a 4-0 lead. Emma Zmudzinski came away with a save with nine minutes on the clock, but the Thunder ultimately got on the scoreboard with a goal midway through the period. Trine made it a 4-2 game less than two minutes later. After a timeout, Molly Mullett won the ensuing draw control and put away her fourth goal of the game to extend the lead to 5-2. Trine countered with a goal with just over a minute remaining, but Zmudzinski made a last-second save to preserve the multi-goal lead going into halftime. 

 

The back-and-forth play picked up right where it left off. Trine struck first, but Mullett had the answer yet again on a one-on-one with the Thunder goalie after a pass from Christiana Singler as Mullett found the back of the net. Trine came back with a free position goal moments later to cut the Saint Mary's lead to 6-5 with 11:48 still on the clock. Zmudzinski again had a key save to keep the Belles ahead, and an extended possession which saw Saint Mary's shave two minutes off the clock resulted in a goal by Erin Dotson with Rubio collecting another assist to make it 7-5. Trine once again made it a one-goal game with 2:45 on the clock. The Thunder tried to push the ball in transition late in the period while looking for a tying goal, but Kate King picked off a pass in the final seconds of the quarter to keep the home side ahead.

 

Emma Zmudzinski made yet another big save - this time on a free position shot - to open the quarter. Lindsey Herdsman picked up the ground ball, raced up the field, cut past a defender, and buried the end-to-end goal to give the Belles a huge burst of energy. Julia Gorski put away a feed from Mia Salazar less than two minutes later, and Alyssa Grant used a strong move in the critical scoring area which saw her defender topple over before the freshman put away a close-range goal for a 10-6 lead. Trine broke up the scoring run with a goal a minute later only to see Erin Dotson give the Belles an 11-7 lead with under ten minutes to play. Zmudzinski tacked on another save, and the defense continued to limit the chances for Trine over the next six-plus minutes of action. The Thunder put a goal on the scoreboard with 2:54 to go, added another goal with 1:38 on the clock, and made it a one-goal game with 40 seconds remaining to push the score to 11-10. Erin Dotson earned the next draw control, and the Belles ran out the clock after a timeout to secure the one-goal win.

 

The win paired with the other results in the MIAA on Tuesday secured a spot for the Belles in next week's MIAA Tournament, which begins with the semifinal round on Wednesday, May 3.

 

Molly Mullett surpassed the 100-point plateau after posting her third five-goal game of the year. The senior also eclipsed 100 draw controls on the season as Mullett came away with a game-high eight draw controls while adding three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Erin Dotson collected two goals, seven draw controls, two ground balls, and three caused turnovers. Valentina Rubio had a career-high five assists to go along with a goal, four ground balls, four draw controls, and four caused turnovers. Lindsey Herdsman recorded a goal and a game-high six ground balls while causing four turnovers. Alyssa Grant and Julia Gorski each scored a goal, and Christiana Singler and Mia Salazar each tallied an assist. Reese Bauer picked up four ground balls, and Elizabeth Bourassa, Kate King, Grant, and Salazar each tallied two. Emma Zmudzinski made six saves in goal while garnering the win.

 

The Belles close out the regular season on Friday when they travel to Alma for a 6:00 p.m. contest against the Scots.