Wingerden's Last Second Score Brings on Title Game
Suit, Peacock Shine as Lady Warriors Head to Messiah
Box Score

MADISON, N.J. --- It’s been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery.  While I’m sure Drew University doesn’t feel the normal content associated with such a notion, the Lady Warriors are ecstatic that Thursday’s Middle Atlantic Conference women’s lacrosse semi-final match ended in the same fashion that sent the Rangers to victory just 12 days earlier. 

It was just under two weeks ago that Drew traveled to Williamsport for a tilt that would shape the structure of the MAC tournament seeding.  The Rangers escaped the Shangraw Athletic Complex with a heart-stopping come from behind victory, scoring twice in the final 30 seconds including the game-winner with 11 seconds to play.

Freshman Sarah Wingerden (Macedon, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon) continues to validate her MAC Rookie of the Year selection, this time catapulting Lycoming into the league championship game with five goals including the contest-capping tally with 11 seconds left on the clock to secure an 11-10 blue and gold victory.  The win marked the first ever triumph for the Lady Warriors over Drew, improving their season mark to 14-3.

Wingerden used a free-position attempt at the high 12-meter mark as her outlet for the game-winner.  With 13 seconds to play, Wingerden (who also wears the number 13 jersey) burst through the middle on the referee’s whistle and bested MAC First Team keeper Casey O’Brien to the high stick-side of the goal to give the Lady Warriors the lead.  Lycoming controlled the final draw and ran out the remaining seconds on the clock.

After Thursday’s outcome, Wingerden, and sophomores Heather Suit (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) and Megan Wallenhorst (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit) joined elite status as quite possibly the only trio on one team with at least 70 points apiece in the country.  Wallenhorst’s second-half score against Drew upped her season total to 72 points while Wingerden’s five goals and Suit’s four goals increased their marks to 71 and 70 points, respectively.

In a battle of the MAC all-star net-minders, sophomore goalkeeper Kristina Peacock (Webster, N.Y./Webster-Thomas) raised her play to a new level for the second game in a row in stopping 17 shots and picking up six groundballs.  A MAC Second Team selection, Peacock stopped 10 shots in the first half alone.  The beginning of the second frame could have proven the difference in the game with the sun setting directly in Peacock’s eyes, but she stopped five shots in a row in the opening few minutes to meet the challenge head-on.

Drew jumped on the board first with a goal each from Courtney Rumbough and Courtney Cunningham.  Wingerden and Suit responded with a pair of unassisted scores each to move Lycoming out to 4-2 lead with 5:27 to play in the first half.  Rumbough dropped in a pair before the intermission with the latter coming with 56 seconds to play.

Wingerden and junior Erin Dillon (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) opened the second half with a goal each to move Lycoming out to a quick 6-4 edge.  The lead was short-lived as Drew stormed back with three scores from Meghan Santaniello, Rumbough, and Kaity Ryan for a 7-6 advantage with 16:17 to play.

Suit quickly regained Lycoming’s lead with a pair of tallies over the next minute and a half while Wallenhorst followed with her lone goal of the contest to put the Lady Warriors ahead 9-7 with 11:56 to play.  Rumbough and Ryan countered with two scores separated by only 35 seconds to even the match at 9-9.

It was the battle of free-position goals over the final minutes as Wingerden gave Lycoming a 10-9 lead with 3:20 to play, but Cunningham knotted the score for a final time just 34 seconds later to set the stage for Wingerden’s deciding goal.

Messiah, the tournament’s number one seed, dispatched the University of Scranton with relative ease in the other MAC semi-final match by a 19-6 count.  In their contest earlier this season, the Falcons snapped Lycoming’s season-high eight-game winning streak by a 16-9 score on April 11.  The Lady Warriors’ look to make amends for their early season mishap and earn a spot in the NCAA Division III National Tournament on Saturday, May 6, at 1:00 p.m. at Messiah