Lacrosse Drops Senior Day Heartbreaker to Methodist 14-13

courtesy of Callie Cline
courtesy of Callie Cline

photo gallery: https://calliecline2348.smugmug.com/NCWC-Lacrosse-vs--Methodist--Sen/

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College women's lacrosse team dropped a one-goal heartbreaker 14-13 to conference rival Methodist on Senior Day Saturday afternoon from Scalf Field.

Wesleyan would get out to a 5-3 lead after the first 10 minutes after 3 goals from senior captain Ali Cucinotta and a goal apiece from junior midfielder Madeline Graham and Junior defender Brionna Beamon.

The Lady Bishops would then go up 7-5 with goals from Graham and Cucinotta with 6 minutes to play in the half before MU closed the half on a 3-0 run to take an 8-7 lead at intermission.

After Graham tied the game at 8 just 90 seconds into the second half, the teams would go scoreless for 7 minutes before MU scored three straight goals to lead 11-8 with 16 minutes to play. The Bishops would then score 3 of the next 4 goals with two from Cucinotta and one from Graham to trail just 12-11 with 7 minutes to play.

Unfortunately, the team would just trade two goals apiece for the final minutes with Cucinotta and Graham scoring the final two goals as Wesleyan would fall one goal short as MU won the final draw control to run out the clock.

Cucinotta led Wesleyan with 7 goals, 2 assists, and 8 draw controls along with 4 ground ball pickups while Graham scored 5 goals with 2 assists, 5 draw controls and 2 ground balls.  

Playing well in goal was senior goalie Alissa Avery making 12 saves on 26 shots with 2 GBs while junior defender Aydriyan Upchurch also caused 3 MU turnovers and defender Karlee Bjurstrom picked up 3 GBs. Wesleyan ended up outshooting the Monarchs 16-14 in the second half as well.

Wesleyan falls to 2-9 overall and 0-5 in the Division while MU improves to 4-4 and 2-2 in the East. The Bishops will finish up their season next Saturday at home at 2 PM vs. Averett.