MELBOURNE, Fla. – A five-goal deficit did little in the way of preventing a ranked road win for the Lander women's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon, who made a ferocious comeback against No. 19 Florida Tech and won 15-14 to cap their Florida trip.
Kylie Fragala made a day of it, netting career-highs of five goals and six points in her third season with the Bearcats, as they improved to 3-4.
Caroline Nicholson almost matched her five-goal output against Mount Olive last week as she scored four times against the Panthers (2-6).
Emelia Tippett added two goals and an assist,
Sophie Warren had one of each, and
Addi Hazlewood,
Morgan Hill and
Elisha Lowes also scored.
Tippett had command of the circle today with six draw controls to lead the way for LU.
Ella Benson and
Kaia Morey each caused two turnovers and increased their totals to 10 and 18, respectively, this season.
The Panthers started off hot with four consecutive goals spanning the opening 4:18 of the game.
Nicholson halted the run on a free-position goal but FIT scored two more to hold a 6-1 lead. Fragala scored with 3:20 to go in the first.
After Tech re-established a five-goal, 7-2 lead during the second quarter, Lander put the pedal to the floor and rattled off five straight to tie the game 2:35 ahead of halftime.
Fragala scored her second of the afternoon to start the run and was followed by Tippett.
Hazlewood made it 7-5 on a free-position shot, Tippett inched the Bearcats one closer, and Nicholson had the equalizer while
Kayla Smith grabbed the assist.
The Panthers added another from the free-position with five seconds to go.
Nicholson tied it back up at 8 and got her hat-trick off a pass from Tippett a minute into the second half.
After FIT scored twice to regain the lead, Fragala herself scored a pair 30 seconds apart to make it 10-10 with 4:31 remaining in the third.
The see-saw battle swung back the Panthers' way as they went ahead 12-10 shortly after. Nicholson soon rifled home her fourth of the game to send the game into the fourth quarter at 12-11.
Lowes knotted it at 12, Tech went back ahead, then Warren tied it at 13 on the woman-advantage after a Panthers yellow card.
Down 14-13, Fragala tied the game for the seventh time with 4:28 left. Not done just yet, Fragala collected the assist on Hill's game-winner with two minutes to go – it was the only time LU led during the game.
The Bearcats held strong and closed out the win.
If it wasn't yet evident, the game was evenly matched in the shots department as well: Each team had 26 shots and Florida Tech had only two more shots on goal than Lander (21-19).
The Bearcats are back home this Wednesday, March 11 for the first time in two weeks. They will play Indiana University of Pennsylvania at 1:00.
