SPORTS
George Mason Pulls Away with 2nd Half Surge Over Davidson Lacrosse
Davidson’s Emily Weld
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Davidson saw George Mason pull away in the second half by scoring the first four goals and seven of the nine overall to claim an 11-7 decision Friday evening in Atlantic 10 women’s lacrosse at Richardson Stadium.
The Wildcats (7-6, 1-4 A-10) were leading 5-4 at the break, but Mason scored four goals in a row in the first 12 minutes to take an 8-5 lead and later added three more for an 11-6 advantage, and the ‘Cats were never able to recover.
Olivia Carey celebrates with her teammates
Pacing the Patriots (8-5, 4-1 A-10) on offense was Deanna Balsama with five points on four goals, three coming in the second half, and an assist. Chachi Kelehan had four points on a goal and three assists, while Abby Folker and Erin Donoghue tallied two goals each.
Seven different players scored for Davidson and Braeden Dial had a team-best three points adding two assists with her goal. Olivia Carey recorded two points on a goal and an assist, while Gianna New did the same.
Dial (goal) and Carey (assist) helped Davidson in the first eight minutes of the game to grab a 3-1 lead. It would hold up until late in the first half when the Patriots rattled off three straight goals to take a 4-3 lead and 4:52 to go in the half.
With 2:47 left, Sophia Sgroi netted her 16th goal to knot things up and Carey scored the final goal for the 5-4 lead at halftime.
Davidson’s Gianna New maneuvers to get a shot on goal
After Mason’s scoring surge to start the second half, New hit for her 19th goal of Dial’s second assist of the game, and 15th for the season, to make it 8-6. It was as close as the Wildcats would get the rest of the way.
The box score was nearly identical across the board in shots (Mason 26-25), groundballs (Mason 16-15), draw controls (10-10) and caused turnovers (7-7), while both goalies came up with double-digit saves (Mason 11-10).
Guhman did her best to keep the Wildcats in the game with 10 saves to go with three groundballs. Mason’s Melissa Semkiw counted with 11 saves, many of which were point blank shots, halting the ‘Cats of a goal.
Jane Diegregorio had a season-best five draw controls, while Sgroi added four, and Shannon Blee tied Guhman with three groundballs.