SAN DIEGO – San Diego State lacrosse battled against Columbia in a back-and-forth matchup on Aztec Field on Sunday, but despite a strong showing from the offense, including a school record-breaking performance in the draw circle from Keira Doyle-Odenbach, the Aztecs came up short 17-15 to the Lions.
San Diego State falls to 1-6 on the season while Columbia improves to 6-2 overall and 0-1 in the Ivy League.
Sophomores Mia Maechtel and Keira Doyle-Odenbach packed the stat sheet with career high numbers. Maechtel was the leading scorer for the Aztecs with five goals and three assists – the most in her career. She also picked up two ground balls and caused one turnover.
Doyle-Odenbach had the stat of the day, breaking the program record for most draw controls in a single game, surpassing Jill Haight’s 12, which was set in 2018, with 13 against the Lions. It’s also the sixth most draw controls in a game in the Big 12 this season. Additionally, she recorded a career high four goals, while also adding two caused turnovers, one assist and one ground ball.
Maechtel and Doyle-Odenbach combine for 32 of the team’s 68 goals through the first seven games.
A junior transfer out of Towson University, Molly Jacobson, scored her first career goal, putting two in the net on Sunday. Lilah Turley, Macie Buell, Tatum Neach and Tate Stokesberry also found scoring opportunities, each putting away one. Of San Diego State’s 15 goals, nine were assisted.
Maddie Brogan led Columbia’s offense with five goals on the day. Cecelia Messner recorded the most points by a Lion, scoring four goals and dishing out four assists. Anna Becker had three goals, while Emma Row buried two and Cordelia Flemming, Lilah Kirch and Grace Hoverman each had one.
The Aztec defense, which currently ranks second in the Big 12 in caused turnovers per game (10.83) forced ten against the Lions. Sophomore Maya Tillman leads the league with an average of 1.85 per outing and added two to her total of 13 on the season. She also grabbed two ground balls.
Senior goalkeeper Caitlin Boughton started in the cage for the Scarlet and Black, playing 20 minutes and recording one save off 11 shots faced with seven goals allowed. She was replaced by Grace Moore for the final 40 minutes. The sophomore grabbed five saves off 21 shots faced with 10 goals allowed.
Columbia played Ava Kimche between the pipes for all 60 minutes. The junior recorded seven saves off 25 shots faced.
It was a back-and-forth battle all the way through with neither team ever leading by more than three. The Aztecs struck first with Maechtel scoring the first goal of the day at the 13:21 mark. The team put up three in the first period, but after four straight scores by the Lions in the final three and a half minutes, San Diego State was behind 5-3. The two teams exchanged goals through the next 15 minutes, bringing the score to 9-8 in Columbia’s favor at halftime. The Lions outscored the Aztecs 4-3 in the third period. The final 15 minutes were tight, with both teams scoring four, but it wasn’t enough for San Diego State to push past Columbia, ultimately falling 17-15.
“We played a really good team and battled the entire time,” said Head Coach Kylee White. “That’s just sports. Sometimes one call, one ground ball, one shot can make all the difference. If we did just a couple of things differently, it could be a different score. But I’m really happy with our offense, which is starting to gel a lot more. To have eight people with points means we’re sharing the ball and we have a lot of people on the field who are threats. They competed really hard. There are just going to be times where your youth is exposed. We’re walking away from this game with our heads held high and we’re excited about the ways in which we’re getting better.”
Next up, the Aztecs hit the road to take on Kent State on Friday and Akron on Sunday.