Feb. 17, 2014
ROCK HILL, S.C. - Despite unusual circumstances surrounding its East Coast road trip, the San Diego State women's lacrosse team pulled out its second victory in as many days, defeating Winthrop, 15-11, on Monday afternoon.
The Aztecs are now 2-0 for the first time in the program's three seasons after beating Winthrop in a game rescheduled from Feb. 14 due to weather. Similar to its season-opening win over Davidson on Sunday, SDSU controlled the first half of play to take a 9-6 halftime lead, before displaying enough mental toughness to withstand the Eagles' second-half rally.
"I'm really happy with the way our team stayed composed and played together the entire game," head coach Kylee White said. "We went through a little adversity, but we just played together and that was a big part of the win."
Junior Michaela Jarvis scored three goals and dished out four assists, while senior Meris Walsh finished with three goals. Juniors Grace Korandovich, Christina Ricciardulli, Bailey Ewing and sophomore Felice Artuso added two goals apiece, and junior Lauren Maack recorded one goal and two assists.
Defensively, Ricciardulli caused two turnovers and tallied six draw controls, while junior Catherine Shepardson had two groundballs with a caused turnover and sophomore Katie Gill caused a pivotal turnover late in the game. Freshman goalkeeper Katrina Reeves finished with six saves in the win.
Much like Sunday's victory, the Aztecs jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage, and led 9-4 after Walsh's second goal of the half with 4:10 left to play before intermission. The Easton, Md., native added her third goal of the game less than two minutes into the second half to extend San Diego State's lead to 10-6.
Winthrop scored three-straight goals to pull within one, but an unassisted goal by Korandovich and Ricciardulli's score off a pass from Jarvis made it 12-9 with 16:52 left to play. After the Eagles scored to cut the lead to two, the Aztecs scored three of the final four goals of the game to win by their biggest margin of the young season.
"We've definitely started well the last two games, but now we have to play an entire 60 minutes," White said. "The exciting part is we know lacrosse is a game of runs. (Winthrop) went on a couple of runs, but we got right back into it and didn't allow too big of a run. It was a team effort from everyone."
San Diego State out-shot Winthrop, 26-23, and had a 15-13 edge in draw controls. Junior Jenna Kasmarik scored a game-high four goals for the Eagles, while sophomore Hayley Krause added three scores.
The Aztecs have this weekend off before opening Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play on the road at California on Friday, Feb. 28, beginning at 7 p.m. PT.