Women's Collegiate Lacrosse Associates

The 2015 season continued for the Lady Tigers on Saturday as Sam Houston State & Univ. of Houston came to Baton Rouge for a couple of TWLL contests in WCLA play. As the gray rain clouds circled campus, the weather held off just long enough for all 3 games to be played (Sam Houston & Houston would square off together between LSU’s games). However, the strong winds out of the South were definitely a factor in game action as passes were redirected. Additionally, players running up & down the field slowed drastically against the wind while they sped up with the wind at their backs.

Division foe Sam Houston State Lady Bobcats were up 1st for the Lady Tigers at 10am Saturday morning. The ladies hailing from Huntsville, TX started out strong as they quickly snatched up 2 ground balls off of the 1st 2 draw controls of the game, diced through the LSU defense for back-to-back scores. Alaena Gadwill (Junior, Owings, MD) helped to regroup the purple & gold as she won the next 3 straight draw controls leading the Tigers’ offensive charge to the arc where she netted 2 goals & Reese Gassie (Junior, Leonardtown, MD) scored 1 in-between. The Lady Tigers took the lead 3-2 & never looked back. Maria Chavez (Freshman, Colorado Springs, CO) took control on the next possession for her 1st goal of the season. She would tack on an assist later in the game. Leading scorer Taylor Reeves (Junior, Boston, MA) got in on the action after 3 more goals by the offense to net 1 of her 3 scores in the game to bring it to 8-2. On the following Tiger possession initiated by a strong clear from Dejanai Hilliard (Freshman, Rockville, MD) up to Chavez in the mid-field who fed Reeves for a back-to-back score. Gadwill got back to work on the ensuring draw as she brought it down for her 4th draw control & carry to the goal combo play for her 4th score of the game. She would finish the game with 12 total draw controls at the center circle. Lauren Fontenot (Freshman, Youngsville, LA) took possession after yet another draw control & earned an 8m Free Position shot. The ball hit the goal pipe but was quickly picked up by the Tiger offense, passed to a wide open Sydney Mulroy (Freshman, Ellicott City, MD) for her 1st goal of the match brining the tally up to 11-2. Her partner in crime at attack, Madison Murray (Freshman, Shreveport, LA), brought her fierce grace of play with back to back scores. The 1st from the left side of the cage & then a crease roll next time on offense to get the Bengal Tigers up to 13-2 with 3:45 left to play in the 1st half. LSU’s offense controlled ownership of the ball for the remainder of the half to go into the break.

Personnel adjustments were made at the half as the Tigers aimed  to increase game experience across the entire roster. A few minutes into the 2nd half multi-position player Sabrina Benoit (Junior, Lake Arthur, LA) netted her 1st goal of her LSU career. After more ball control by the Tigers, Fontenot earned another 8m Free Position attempt to find the back of the net for the 1st goal her career as well. The Lady Bobcats looked to show some life in a couple of possessions down on their end of the field until rookie Steph Wilderspin (Junior, Essex, United Kingdom) caused her 2nd turnover of her season to give the ball back to the Tiger offense for almost all of the next 11 minutes of play. The offense worked on many position play sets & rotations getting a large chunk of the roster in on the action. At the 3:24 mark, Hilliard earned an 8m Free Position shot which she placed perfectly for her 1st goal of her collegiate lacrosse career. On the final play of the Tigers effort, Reeves looking to feed a cutting Katie Palmer (Sophomore, Baton Rouge, LA) had her pass deflected which then found its way by the Sam Houston State goalie. On the final draw of the game the Tigers worked hard on defense to thwart a final rushing attempt by Sam Houston to drive to their offensive end. Defenders Maggie Durci (Junior, Shreveport, LA), Hilliard, Palmer, Rebecca Lambert (Junior, Kenner, LA), Wilderspin, Tameka Gongs (Senior, Washington D.C.), & Teresa Guilbault (Senior, Woodstock, GA) were simply relentless for the bulk of the 1st half & entire 2nd half not allowing much from the Lady Bobcats’ offense surges. Goalies Kaci Rogers (Junior, Winnfield, LA) would save 3 of the 5 shots on goal & Randi Fracassi (Junior, Blanchard, MI) would save the 1 shot that the Bobcats offense was able to attempt while she was in cage. The Lady Tigers were without 2 veteran players by way of Erin Esh (Sophomore, Allen, TX) after she was hospitalized Friday night with a severe migraine & Ashley Leggett (Junior, Coto de Caza, CA) as she was working in the PMAC the entire morning setting up for the LSU men’s Basketball game (she would join the team for the afternoon contest against Univ. of Houston). Final score for this TWLL Division 2 game would be 17-2 in favor of the LSU Fighting’ Lady Tigers.

The middle game of the day would finish with a score of University of Houston 21 – Sam Houston State 2. While the playing day was done for the Lady Bobcats, they did seek out to enjoy Walk On’s for post-game sustenance & also traded contract information with LSU players as they planned to meet up for social entertainment Saturday night in Baton Rouge. Just 1 of the many perks of playing women’s club lacrosse in the TWLL conference. Players play hard on the field but are absolute sports(wo)men outside of the games & cultivate terrific friendships.

The finale of the day would get underway at 2pm under growing South winds out at the LSU UREC Fields. The Houston Cougars compete in the D1 ranks of the TWLL within WCLA play. The Lady Cougars drew 1st blood as their mid-field work the ball to a strong charge to the cage. Possessions went back & forth between squads until Mulroy scooped up a ground ball to get it down to Gadwill on the offensive end of the field where she showed off some women’s lax finesse with a backhand shot to tie the game at the 24 minute mark. After 6 minutes of field play UH placed another shot then earned an 8m Free Position chance to take a 3-1 lead. On the ensuring draw, Gadwill found her rhythm for controls leading to Emily Sullivan (Junior, Long Island, NY) earning her 1st 8m Free Position attempt of the day. She put the biscuit in the basket to bring the Lady Tigers within 1 of the Lady Cougars. At the 6 minute mark, Reese Gassie started her scoring attack to the tie the game at 3. Houston would call timeout in an attempt to stall the Tigers attack. The plan did not affect Gassie in the least as she buried 2 more scores, dodging into the wind to the cage to get the hat trick. The Cougars would bounce back with 2 strikes against the Tiger defense to tie the game again at 5-5. Reeves & Gassie would restart their offensive dominance with a goal each to end the 1st half at 7-5.

After the intermission, the Tigers would have the wind at their backs. The coaching staff worked to shore up the Tigers in all phases & fired up the team to keep the undefeated record going. Reeves opened up the 2nd half, off of yet another draw control by Gadwill, with her 3rd goal & hat trick of her own in the game. Mulroy got involved again with a killer high leading assist to Gadwill bringing the score to 9-5. On the next possession the Cougars placed a shot that Kaci Rogers simply magically denied. The Tigers transitioned the ball down the field where Reeves earned an 8m Free Position shot & goal. Gassie then continued her own attack by drawing 4 defenders to earn her own 8m Free Position shot. She found the back of the net for an 11-5 lead. Reeves took her turn next with another 8m Free Position goal. The Tigers lost possession off of the next draw & UH capitalized with their 6th goal of the game. Reeves would not allow that to go unpunished as she rolled the crease next time down the field for her 6th mark on goal. Madison Murray brought her Shreveport Swagger in to the game with a crease roll & simply destroyed the Cougars defense to move the Tigers up 14-6. Dejanai Hilliard would lead yet another clear that found an open Gassie who buried another goal. Sullivan emerged once again on offense with a ground ball pick up that she drove through the UH defense for another Tiger strike. Another draw control by Gadwill led to a 12m shot launched by Reeves. Murray got the ball on the next possession, earning an 8m Free Position that she fired by the goalie, off stick side. The Lady Cougars would cause a turnover after Gadwill’s 16th draw control of the game (28th on the day) for their final score of the contest. Gassie continued her dominance notching her 7th goal of the game, a career high for her. Not to be outdone, Reeves scoops up a ground ball after a wild offensive possession to land her 7th goal of the game. The Tigers would run out the clock to end the game at the score of 20-7.

The Lady Tigers are now 3-0 overall, 1-0 in Division play, the best start in the program’s recorded history.

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