DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's lacrosse team close out the home portion of its 2018 campaign with a hard-fought 21-13 loss to sixth-ranked Rollins, Wednesday at the ERAU Lacrosse Field. The loss put the Eagles at 7-9 overall and 1-4 in the Sunshine State Conference, while the Tars improved to 14-3 on the year and 4-2 in league play.
Wednesday's game marked the first time that ERAU Head Coach
Marissa Giannerini and Assistant Coach
Elyse DeLisle – both Rollins graduates – faced their former head coach Dennis Short. While the Eagles didn't come away with the win, the first-year ERAU program put forth a valiant effort, and although the first half belonged to the Tars, the Eagles won the second 30 minutes of play 8-7.
The Tars took an early lead, scoring three unanswered in the first nine minutes of action.
Kendall Leonard found
McKenzie Jackson for the Eagles' first score of the game in the 20th minute, but Rollins outscored ERAU 9-1 over the next 12 minutes to widen the lead to 12-2. Behind a pair of scores by Jackson, the Eagles bested the Tars 3-2 in the last six minutes of the first half and at the break, the Rollins lead was 14-5.
Jackson and
Mya Watson were responsible for two of the first three goals of the second half, but Rollins pushed back with two unanswered to build the lead back up to 10 (17-7). The Tars maintained that 10-point cushion for much of the half until the final 1:39 when Jackson and Watson scored within 20 seconds of each other to close out the game.
Watson finished with seven points on four goals and three assists for the Eagles, while Jackson finished with a game-high six goals, matching her season-high. Jackson also led ERAU with 14 draw controls as the Eagles won the draw 22-12. ERAU capitalized on its free position shots, going 5-for-5, but the Eagles struggled to take care of the ball, registering 19 turnovers to just six by Rollins.
Kallie German paced the Tars with five goals, three of which were on free position shots.
The Eagles will close out their inaugural season on April 21 at 16th-ranked Tampa. Game time is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.
