The University of Chicago women’s lacrosse team continued its torrid start to the program’s inaugural season, beating Calvin College 18–14 on Saturday to improve their season mark to 3–0. It was the team’s first big test of the season, as the visiting Knights enterfresh off a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament’s second round. The team, primarily composed of first-years, demonstrated maturity, confidence, and poise to pick up the impressive win.
Bolstered by a red hot offensive attack, the Maroons grabbed the lead less than four minutes into the first half with a nifty goal by first-year midfielder Karina Schulze. Two minutes later, first-yearattackerLally Johnson added to the lead with a goal of her own.
Schulze and Johnson have led the team’s blazing offense thus far this season, which has tallied at least 18 goals in all three games. Schulze leads the team with 19 points (15 goals, four assists) while Johnson trails behind with 12 points (eight goals, four assists). Schulze also leads theteam in ground balls (15), caused turnovers (10), and draw controls (20), in which she is tied with first-year midfielder Audrey Kaus.
The Knights quickly responded with a goal of their own, cutting the lead to 2–1, but the Maroons would see their lead swell to 6–2 behind goals from first-year midfielder Abbey Pouba, Schulze, first-year midfielder Anne Sensenig, and Kaus.
But the Knights clawed back into the game with three straight goals to nearly tie the score, at 6–5. If the momentum seemed to swingtowards Calvin, the South Siders firmly regained it with their own trio of unanswered goals. Schulze completed the hat trick while Johnson and Kaus added their second scores of the game. UChicago entered halftime ahead by a score of 9–7.
To open the second half, Pouba and Schulze tallied goals before the Knights leveled the score, 11–11, with four straight goals. With Calvin threatening to take control of the lead, the Maroons responded with a four-goal run of their own from first-year midfielder Ali Sheehy, Kaus, Johnson, and Schulze.
Sensenig would find the back of the net to stretch it to 16–11, but the Knights cut the score to make it 16–14 with a little over seven minutes remaining. Providing a comfortable cushion for the Maroonsat the end of the game, Pouba and Sensenig would each tally goals to cap off an 18–14 victory.
While the UChicago offense proved potent and efficient, connecting on 18 of 30 shots for 60 percentshooting, the defense struggled to contain Calvin’s duo of Emma Verrett (fourgoals, one assist) and Megan Gilbert (four goals, one assist). The Maroons committed 30 fouls to Calvin’s 15, and third-year goalkeeper Honor Crandell recorded four saves on 25 shots. The Knights edged the Maroons on draw controls, 19–15, but Chicago would make up the difference by winning the turnover and ground ball battles.
The Maroons next scheduled game, against St. Mary’s (Indiana), has been postponed to April 7. The Maroons will look to improve their season record to 4–0 when they face Albion on March 8.
