Saturday February 7th saw an absolutely beautiful sunny & 70 degree day for some college lacrosse action in Baton Rouge. While the LSU Men’s Lacrosse team took down Florida 9-8 for their 1st ever 3-0 start in MCLA play, the LSU Women’s Lacrosse Team took on WCLA foe Baylor & then neighboring Tulane in an exhibition matchup.

Baylor & Tulane squared off 1st at high noon in which Baylor took the contest by a score of 7-3.

At 2pm, the Lady Tigers took the field against the D1 Lady Bears in a WCLA opener for the purple & gold. With Junior Alaena Gadwill (Owings, MD) taking the bulks of the draws, controlling 7 in the contest, the Tigers jumped out to an early 5-3 1st half lead. LSU’s defense did a good job of keeping Baylor’s offense on the outer perimeter of the “fan”. Senior Teresa Guilbault (Woodstock, GA) & Junior Maggie Durci (Shreveport, LA) led the Tiger defense as new players found themselves gaining confidence & in-game experience. A Baylor yellow card at approximately 90 seconds before the end of the half resulted in 2 more Tiger scores before the break, 1 by Junior Taylor Reeves (Boston, MA) in the final 0:02. LSU went into the intermission with a 7-3 lead.

The 2nd half got underway with the Lady Tigers with a man-up advantage for the 1st 30 seconds as the yellow card from the end of the 1st half carried over. The teams traded possessions & shots then at the 22:00 mark, Baylor got called for another yellow card. LSU & Baylor traded goals until the score hit 9-6. With less than 9 minutes to play, LSU began to control the clock with quality offensive ball movement eating up 3 minutes to take the score from 10-6 then 11-6. With 10 seconds to go in the game, Taylor Reeves took possession for 1 more score just before the final horn to give the Tigers the 12-6 victory. With the victory, the Lady Tigers, who play in the D2 classification within the WCLA, opened up 1-0 on season in TWLL play.

Throughout the game Freshman Madison Murray (Shreveport, LA) contributed 1 goal, 1 assist. Junior Reese Gassie (Leonardtown, MD) notched 3 goals with strong moves to the cage. Gadwill added 1 goal & 1 assist to her 7 draw controls. Reeves finished with 4 goals. Sophomore Erin Esh (Allen, TX) notched 1 goal while defender Maggie Durci turned a ground ball at the restraining line into a fast break clear that led to an assist. Junior Emily Sullivan (Long Island, NY) rounded out the offensive tally with 2 goals & 1 assist. Freshmen Maria Chavez (Colorado Springs, CO) & Sydney Mulroy (Ellicott City, MD) helped the offense move the ball around the attack side of the field & contributed many cuts that created opportunities for teammates. Junior Goalie Kaci Rogers (Winnfield, LA) racked up 9 saves on 15 shots on goal.

About 45 minutes later, just before 4pm, Tulane took the field again to face the Lady Tigers. Given that Tulane has a Spring Sorority Rush schedule; Tulane only came to town with enough players to field a team, no subs. The Green Wave jumped out to an early 3-1 lead that grew to 4-3 with 3:45 left in the opening half. With 2 more quick strikes, they got up to 6-3 before the Tigers put 1 in the cage in the final minute of the half. Taylor Reeves almost scored her 3rd final second goal of the day. Tulane went into the intermission with the score 6-4 with Junior Randi Fracassi in goal for the Tigers collecting 5 saves.

After regrouping & hydrating during the half, Reeves led the Tigers’ offensive in the 1st minute with an assault to bring the purple & gold within 1 of Tulane. In the next few minutes Tulane tallied 2 more goals to bring their lead back to 3 goals again. The Tigers powered back with 2 goals by the 10 minute mark bringing them to within 1 of the Green Wave. An Erin Esh iso goal tied the game at 8. Both teams traded possessions as the game clock wound down. Tulane notched another goal before Gadwill tied it back up at 9 with an 8 meter position shot. Gassie added 1 more goal under the 3 minute mark to give the Tigers their 1st lead of the game 10-9. Off of the ensuing draw, both squads traded 1 more possession each until the game clock ticked below 0:45. A tough Tulane dodge to the cage resulted in a goal at the 0:36 mark. The final draw of the game resulted in a scrum that LSU scooped up, looked to score but mishandled control. Tulane took the ball back down to their end of the field for a final attempt that the Tigers defense & goalie Kaci Rogers halted. With less than 10 seconds remaining the Tigers fought for a miracle clear & final half field shot that just did not have the angle. The exhibition game ended in a 10-10 tie that delivered the thrilling matchup we have come to expect between the 2 programs.

Throughout the game, many Tigers grew exponentially, especially on the defensive end of the ball. Senior Carley Riedel (Sacramento, CA) fielded her 1st game ground balls & even initiated a clear with freshman teammate Dejanai Tre’Shawn (Rockville, MD) that resulted in a timely possession for the purple & gold. Freshman Lauren Fontenot (Youngsville, LA), Sophomore Katie Palmer (Baton Rouge, LA) & Sophomore Sabrina Benoit (Lake Arthur, LA) were found all over the defensive & even midfield portions of the field contributing ground balls & strong defensive play. Junior Rebecca Lambert (Kenner, LA), Senior Tameka Gongs (Washington D.C.), & Junior Steph Wilderspin (Colshester, Essex, UK) got in on the defensive action as well.

On offense, the Tiger scoring effort was led by Taylor Reeves with 4 goals, Erin Esh with 3 goals, Emily Sullivan with 1 goal, Reese Gassie with 1 goal, Alaena Gadwill with 1 goal, & Madison Murray with 2 assist.
The Tulane scoring came by way of Brenna Byrne (Natick, MA) 2 goals, Molly Mclintyre (New York, NY) 2 goals, Becca Schiff (Denver, CO) 2 goals, Lauren Handler (New Rochelle, NY) 1 goal, & Kirstin Ranheim (Philadelphia, PA) with 3 goals to lead the Green Wave in the exhibition.

The Lady Tigers return to WCLA in 2 weeks with 2 home contests on February 21st vs. University of Houston & Sam Houston State University out at the LSU UREC Fields. Be sure to “Like” the LSU Women’s Lacrosse Team on Facebook as well as “Follow” them on Twitter & Instagram for team updates, scores, pictures, video, & more:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/LSU-Womens-Lacrosse-Club/219975431350011
https://twitter.com/lsuwomenslax
http://instagram.com/lsuwomenslax 
 

After a wild month off from game play due to freezing weather in North Texas, difficulty in rescheduling delayed games, & rainy weather closing practice fields the LSU Women’s Lacrosse Team is heading to South Central Texas for a “make it or break it” road trip.

After Trinity & St. Edward’s cancelled their seasons early in February along with last month’s UNT game being unable to be rescheduled-the Tigers are playing their final 2 conference division games of 2015.
Saturday at 3pm in College Station LSU will take on #18 TCU in a rescheduled game from last month. TCU will be taking on Division 1 Texas A&M at 1pm in a previously scheduled contest. The LSU vs. TCU game will be a crucial one for the Lady Tigers who are currently 3-0 overall, 1-0 in division play, & ranked #16.

Sunday morning at 11am the Purple & Gold will square off against #25 Texas State, who will be celebrating their Senior Day, in San Marcos. Texas State will come in to the contest with a record of 4-2, 2-2. After Sunday’s game, LSU will have to sit back & watch the final 2 weekends of the TWLL season unfold as they are idle due to Spring Break. Every other team in the conference had their respective Spring Breaks earlier in the month.

2015 brings a new playoff breakdown for the TWLL than in seasons past. This year, there are 2 divisions in the conference for the 1st time & the Top 4 teams from each division will qualify for the TWLL Conference Tournament in Austin, TX at the University of Texas. #1 will face #4 & #2 will challenge #3 in their respective divisions with the winners battling it out for their division’s Conference Championship & the AQ to the WCLA National Championship Tournament in Virginia Beach, VA. The losers from the semifinals will play for 3rd place. There will not be any cross divisional games.

Going into the weekend both LSU & SMU are undefeated in division play at 1-0 & 3-0, respectively. With TCU sitting at 1-1, Texas State at 2-2, North Texas at 1-1, & Texas Tech at 0-1 with SMU, TCU, & UNT left to play. Sam Houston State is 1-3, mathematically eliminated from the postseason.

Should the Lady Tigers emerge 2-0 on the road trip then they are a lock for either a tie for #1 with SMU or default to #2 given the strength of schedule. In the event the Lady Tigers split the weekend, there is a chance for a #3 or #4 seed depending on how the divison season unfolds. If the Tigers drop both contests then they will simply have to wait & see how their division opponents finish up to find out if they are out or in.

Be sure to keep up with all the Lady Tigers Lacrosse action this weekend via their Twitter as they intend to Live Tweet game updates throughout the games. You can follow the team: @LSUWomensLax