The Elon University women’s lacrosse team fell, 13-9, to the Flames of Liberty University Feb. 21.
In only its second game of the season, the Phoenix battled offensively, putting up 26 shots, landing 22 on goal, and nine in the back of the net from five different Elon players. Now 0-2, the Phoenix is looking to build upon its offensive success and continue their high-pressure style of play.
The day started out in an unordinary fashion as the bus driver took the team a couple hours out of the way towards Blacksburg, Virginia instead of Lynchburg, Virginia where the game against Liberty was scheduled to be played. The team showed up without much time before the start of the game and only had time for a quick warm up before taking the field. Things started off slow for Elon, as it was set back by three early Liberty goals in the first seven minutes of the game.
Freshman Annie Shenk struck back and got the Phoenix going with three straight goals to tie up the game with 18:40 left in the first period. A strong offensive effort by Shenk helped the Phoenix gain momentum throughout the game, as she tallied five goals for Elon. Freshman Sloane Kessler netted one goal and assisted on three, along with Olivia Fernandez, Anna Vitton and Sydney Hesselbein who each recorded one goal.
Elon took its only lead in the first period going up 5-4. The Phoenix ran at the Flames in a quick transition and Anna Vittan cut across the face of the goal and finished one to go up one with under eight minutes remaining in the half.
The Phoenix was then jammed up by a five-goal streak from Liberty that took them into the half. Liberty’s leading scorers were Sam Struss, who put up five goals on the day, and Michaela Rich who tallied three. Kallie Britton assisted on three of the goals.
Despite the strong offensive output from Elon, the defensive effort in the midfield by the Flames was too much for the Phoenix in the first period, which ended with a 9-5 lead for the Flames.
On defense, the Phoenix put a lot of pressure on the Flames, with six players forcing turnovers. Goalie Rachel Ramirez racked up 13 saves between the posts and four ground balls in the game, while only allowing four goals on the 22 shots she faced in the second period. The Phoenix struggled to manage the quick transition game of the Flames.
With the Flames up by five in the second period, goals by Hesselbein and Kessler helped close the gap making it a 10-7 game with 17:46 remaining. But Liberty maintained possession and put up another three goals, making it 13-7.
The Phoenix didn’t stop battling though, as Shenk recorded her fifth goal of the game off a pass from Kessler with less than two minutes left in the game. Elon scored again on a free-position shot by Fernandez just 28 seconds later to close out the game.
On the day, the Flames outshot the Phoenix 37-26 and took the advantage in ground balls, 23-20, and draw controls, 14-11.
Elon will stay in Virginia for the weekend and face the Hokies of Virginia Tech at noon Feb. 23.