The following article was written for a journalism class.
By Archita Aggarwal and Mel Ambaye
LEXINGTON, Va. – York College women’s lacrosse ended Washington and Lee University’s undefeated streak Saturday with a 12-8 win. York attacker Kiersten Blanchard netted a hat trick, leading the York Cardinals to victory.
The No. 2 W&L Generals led the first quarter with two consecutive goals against the No. 12 York Cardinals. York made their first goal of the game with 90 seconds left in the first quarter.
Cardinals first-year midfielder Sydney Mentzer, who was assisted off the field after a minor first quarter injury, scored seconds after Generals attacker Claire Horner made the Generals’ third goal.
Blanchard scored two goals in the second quarter for the Cardinals, bringing them to a 5-3 advantage before halftime.
York junior attacker Logan Ward kicked off the third quarter with two goals. W&L senior midfielder Jenny Lisovicz responded with a goal shortly after. But after Mentzer scored her second goal of the game, the Generals were trailing 10-5.
“At the end of the day, we just didn’t come out as strong as we could have,” W&L attacker Julia Thomson said. “We played catch up for a lot of the game.”
The Generals tried coming back during the fourth quarter with two goals from Walker McKnight. She had received last week’s Co-offensive Division III Player of the Week Award following a W&L victory against Tufts University, who were previously ranked No. 2.
But after Blanchard made her third goal for the Cardinals, followed by another goal from York attacker Gianna Huet, the Cardinals secured their 12-8 win.
York Head Coach Jen Muston said she knew the game wasn’t going to be easy.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” she said. “But my team stuck to the game plan and we ended up coming out on the top.”
Cardinals midfielder Teresa Matthias said York has made it a pattern to beat undefeated teams.
“The past three games we’ve had, we beat undefeated teams so far,” she said. “So, keeping the streak going feels great, especially when it’s a top two team.”
The Generals say this loss will motivate them to come back stronger for the rest of their games this season.
“Unfortunately, today we didn’t come out on top,” W&L defender Eugenie Rovegno said. “This is a great learning opportunity for our team. There is a lot we now know we need to work on, and we are ready to come to practice on Monday ready to get started.”