After a very promising start to the campaign, the Lady Rams lacrosse team has come back to Earth over the past few days. The Shepherd University women’s lacrosse team opened up the week with a loss at home against the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne University. Bailey Leonard scored the game-winning goal on an assist from Lauren Donovan with 4:08 remaining in the contest. Donovan led the way for Lenoir-Rhyne with four goals and a pair of assists. Both her goal scoring and playmaking were major factors in the Bears’ victory.
Junior attacker Georgia Karr was the leading scorer for the Rams, potting four goals and tacking on an additional helper. Hunter Morris added two goals as well as a pair of assists. Jenny Cavey and Erin Phelan each added two goals to the Shepherd cause. However, even some electric offensive performances from Shepherd players were not quite enough to overcome the Bears.
Shepherd held the 7–5 halftime lead, but was unable to hold on and sustain the victory as the Lady Rams suffered their second loss of the season. The Bears went on and won the matchup by a final score of 12–11.
Unfortunately for the Lady Rams, the result was the same when Seton Hill came to Ram Stadium this past Tuesday. Shepherd went into halftime with a significant 8–5 edge, but Seton Hill was able to score 14 goals in the second half to soundly defeat the Rams by a final score of 19–11.
Emily Fagan led the way for Seton Hill with five goals. Emma Summers added four more goals, three of which happened to be scored during Seton Hill’s less prolific first half. Summers scored her other goal during the second half onslaught.
Karr led the way for Shepherd scoring four goals. Phelan added three more goals for the Rams and also notched a pair of asssits. Lily Schmulowitz had 11 saves for the Rams in a losing effort.
At this point, the Lady Rams had dropped their second straight game and fell to a 5–3 mark on the year. Things immediately got better for the Rams, though.
Rams Stadium in Shepherdstown held its third game of the week on Saturday when the Rams hosted Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Slippery Rock managed to get a hold of a 10–7 lead at the interval, but the Lady Rams were able to take the game into overtime and defeat Slippery Rock by a final score of 17–16 to avoid a three-game losing streak.
Morris scored the game-winning overtime goal on an assist from Karr with 5:22 remaining in overtime. Morris and Christina Ferrara led the Rams with four goals each. Karr added three goals for the victorious Rams and added a game-high four assists. At this point in the season, the offense that Karr is able to generate can’t be ignored. Her consistent filling of the statistics sheet is helping the Rams every game they play.
The Shepherd University women’s lacrosse squad has seen their record improve to 6–3 on the season. The Lady Rams will travel to Urbana for their next game on Saturday and will then travel to West Virginia Wesleyan the following day for a matchup against the Bobcats.