GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 23, 2022) – In a matchup designed to give the Big Red a major challenge against high-quality competition heading into the postseason, the Denison University women's lacrosse team hosted No. 4 nationally-ranked Washington and Lee University on Saturday, but in the end, the Big Red came up short by a final score of 10-5 against the Generals.
It was the first matchup between the two teams since meeting up during the second round of the NCAA Tournament back in 2014.
After a goal by
Josie Lucchesi tied the game at 1-1 just over three minutes into the contest, Washington and Lee proceeded to score four unanswered goals to close out the first quarter up 5-1 before Lucchesi scored her second goal to make it 5-2 less than a minute into the second quarter.
However, four more unanswered goals by the Generals made it 9-2 before Lucchesi's third goal of the first half made it 9-3 with just under two minutes left before halftime.
After adding a goal on a restart in the final second before halftime, the Generals scored five goals in each of the first two quarters before being shut down by the Big Red in the second half.
Unfortunately, Denison was unable to score itself in the third quarter, and a goal by
Casey McTague with under three minutes remaining followed by the fourth goal by Lucchesi only 38 seconds later was not going to be enough.
Lucchesi's four goals were a new career-high for the sophomore from Villanova, Pennsylvania.
Caroline O'Dea played the first quarter and the whole second half in goal and finished with four saves and five groundballs for the Big Red.
McTague had four groundballs and four caused turnovers, and
Merrill Rollhause had three draw controls.
Denison falls to 9-5 overall and 4-2 at home while Washington and Lee (13-2) improves its current winning streak to 11 games in a row.
Next up will be Denison's Senior Day and final game of the regular season as the Big Red host the College of Wooster at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. The Big Red have won 10 in a row and 16 of 17 against the Fighting Scots.
