(Grand Rapids, MI) – Concordia women's lacrosse traveled to Aquinas on Saturday afternoon as the team continued WHAC conference play. Both teams entered the contest looking for their second WHAC conference win of the year. The Cardinals pulled away early and came away with a 14-9 victory.
Abbey Turner (JR/Grand Ledge, MI) and Greyson Papp (SO/South Bend, IN) tied for the team lead with 4 goals apiece. Papp and Jennifer Miller (FR/South Lyon, MI) tied for a team-leading 6 draw controls while Miller also led the team with 9 ground balls. Jessica Russ (JR/Madison, AL) helped the defensive effort with a team-high 4 caused turnovers. Amanda Archer (SO/Brighton, MI) was solid in net making 11 saves in the game.
The Cardinals set the tone early in the match, controlling possession in the Aquinas zone. Greyson Papp scored the first goal of the game at the 27:31 mark with Jennifer Miller drawing the assist. Abbey Turner added a pair of goals just 40 seconds apart, and 2 goals from Jennifer Miller put CUAA up 5-0 with 22:15 left in the half.
Amanda Archer made several key saves in the first half to maintain the Concordia lead. Aquinas broke the shutout with a free position goal, but solid passes by the Cardinals led to a goal by Kourtney Kraftchick (SO/Bedford, MI) in response. Abbey Turner finished off her hat trick with a goal at the 10:22 mark off an assist from Kraftchick.
Both teams continued to trade goals with Kayla Owsley (SR/Dexter, MI) circling the net and scoring for Concordia. Greyson Papp scored on a stellar individual effort, winning the faceoff and running the length of the field to fire in an unassisted goal. Papp completed her hat trick by scoring with just 8 seconds remaining and CUAA led 10-4 at halftime.
Abbey Turner ran around the net and scored her fourth goal of the game to start out the 2nd half. Aquinas made another comeback effort with 3 straight goals, cutting the Concordia lead to 11-7 at the 18:52 mark.
Taylor Nesbitt (FR/Chicago, IL) ended the run by using a series of spin moves to get open and score. Greyson Papp scored her fourth marker of the game just over a minute later, and Nesbitt added another goal to put the Cardinals back up by 7 goals. Amanda Archer continued to stay strong in the net down the stretch and Concordia emerged with a 14-7 win.
The Cardinals improve to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in the WHAC with the victory. The team will play their next game on Wednesday, April 10 when they travel to Lourdes for another WHAC conference match. The game is set to begin at 5pm.
