SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University lacrosse team hung tight with No. 18 East Stroudsburg for the first 45 minutes of play on Tuesday before the visitors used a run to surge past the Raiders, 19-11, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup from a cold, windy and snowy Robb Sports Complex.
Shippensburg (6-8, 2-7 PSAC) was tied 3-3 with East Stroudsburg (10-2, 9-1) with less than eight minutes to play in the first half before the Warriors countered with six of the next eight goals to take a 9-5 lead into halftime. SU would get within two goals of the lead at 11-9 with 16:52 remaining, but the visitors unleashed a 7-0 run over the next six minutes to pull away.
Junior defender
Valerie Hertz tied Gayle Kuntzmann's single-season school record for caused turnovers on Tuesday, recording two in the game to go along with five groundballs and eight of SU's 12 draw controls. Hertz has 43 caused turnovers this season, one more than her previous single-season high achieved last season. She is second to Kuntzmann in school history for career caused turnovers with 107, 17 off the record.
The Raiders produced strong results in the first half despite multiple snow squalls and wind gusts that made conditions miserable at times. Freshman goalkeeper
KiKi Brasher made 11 of her 17 saves in the first half and denied ESU five times on free-position shots. Senior
Makenzie Magnotta matched Hertz with five groundballs and two caused turnovers.
Offensively, freshman
Maddy Siejk recorded her second career hat trick to go along with three groundballs, two draw controls and a caused turnover. Senior
Allison Fugate, junior
Kyra Shank and freshman
Alana Cardaci each scored twice, with Cardaci adding an assist.
Junior
Madi Newman and senior
Jordan Kengor rounded out the Raider scorers. Newman added a pair of draw controls. Senior
T.J. Johnson and freshman
Jena MacDonald each contributed two assists.
The visitors got six goals, two assists and four draw controls from freshman Krista Mitarotonda, while captain Chessie Rahmer had game highs of six groundballs and five caused turnovers to go along with six draw controls and a hat trick. ESU committed 19 turnovers compared to 30 by the Raiders.
Shippensburg will host Edinboro at 1 p.m. Saturday from Robb Sports Complex.
