HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – In the first of two road games this week to close the 2025 regular season, the Lander women's lacrosse team staved off the host Huntsville-Alabama Chargers for a 13-12 win on Thursday night at Charger Park.
The win pushed the Bearcats' record to 11-3 and 2-1 in the Gulf South Conference and clinched a berth in the GSC Tournament next week. UAH dropped to 7-10, 2-2.
The Chargers, who trailed 10-7 at the start of the fourth, pulled the score within a goal twice over the first 10 minutes of the quarter – first 11-10, then 12-11 – before making it 13-12 with a minute to go.
UAH won the ensuing draw control but threw the ball out of bounds. After a timeout, the Blue and Gold successfully burned off the final 30 seconds on the clock to pull out the win.
Ella Benson scored three goals and had one assist,
Izzy Olson had two goals and two assists, and
Mickey Burnett,
Brooke Kelly and
Amelia McCauley also scored twice. The other Bearcat goals scored were courtesy of
Kylie Fragala and
Sophie Warren.
Burnett's free-position goal put Lander on the board four minutes into the night. Later trailing 4-1, Burnett assisted Benson to make it a two-goal game. Olson made it 4-3 with five minutes left in the quarter and Kelly knotted it up at 4 from the free-position zone 40 seconds later to cap a high-scoring first.
McCauley made the Chargers pay just 20 seconds into a second-quarter yellow card and gave Lander its first lead 11 minutes before halftime. McCauley then assisted Fragala for a 6-4 advantage.
Benson added her second of the night from the free-position slot – and the sixth straight goal for the Bearcats – to increase the lead to 7-4 with 6:30 left in the opening half. UAH ended the scoring run but Benson finished off her hat-trick with five minutes left in the half for an 8-5 score.
Each side had two goals in the third.
The Bearcats will finish the regular season on Saturday in a noon ET/11 a.m. CT start in Montevallo.
