MARS HILL, N.C. — The Newberry Wolves (3-14, 0-8 SAC) women’s lacrosse team wrapped up their season with a trip north to take on the Mars Hill Lions (5-10, 2-6 SAC), falling to the Lions by a final score of 20-11.
The Wolves were looking for their first back-to-back wins of the season after an overtime victory over Chowan last Wednesday, and appeared to be headed in that direction after opening the game with goals from Chloe Wood and Rachel Dillon to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Newberry’s defensive effort started out strong as well, holding the Lions without a point for nearly nine minutes to open the game; however, Mars Hill’s Victoria Eckard flipped the switch for a major Lions run.
Eckard scored three goals in less than three minutes to give Mars Hill the lead, and while another goal from Wood helped break up that streak, the Lions were far from finished.
The home team erupted for eight unanswered goals that carried over into the second half, establishing a hearty 11-3 lead that would prove too much for the Wolves to handle.
After over twenty scoreless minutes, Wood scored her third goal of the day with 27:40 remaining in the game, sparking the Wolves’ offensive effort in the second half. She would go on to score three more goals in the second half, finishing with a game-high six on the day, but the Wolves couldn’t stop Mars Hill on the defensive end.
Newberry was able to score eight goals after the halftime break, but the Lions poured in 11 to build on their halftime lead, giving Mars Hill the 20-11 victory to end Newberry’s season.
Wood tied for the game-high with six goals, while Dillon was able to record a hat trick as well. Sophie Moore and Keegan Hanson closed out the scoring for Newberry with one goal each. Brandy Bowman made 11 saves in goal for the Wolves in what was the final game of her career.
The Wolves were outshot by the Lions by a margin of 43-25, as well as losing the turnover battle by a margin of 26-14. Newberry was able to win the draw control battle, outdoing Mars Hill by a total of 18-15.
This was the final game of the 2019 season for the Newberry women’s lacrosse team, who graduate three seniors in Brandy Bowman, Rachel Dillon and Adara Garner. They will look forward to the 2020 season and the second year under head coach Racquel Prager, which will commence in February of next year.