ASHLAND, Va. - In a battle of the Yellow Jackets, the Baldwin Wallace University women's lacrosse team suffered a 16-10 loss to Randolph-Macon (Va.) College on Day Field, as it kicked off its slate of spring break trip games.
BW's (2-3) offense was led by junior midfielder Maddie Ray (Cuyahoga Falls/Akron Reserve), as she scored four goals for the second game in a row, and extended her multi-goal streak to five games overall. Junior attacker Alexis O'Neill (Westlake) also contributed with an hat-trick of her own, while senior All-OAC attacker Brie Martineau (Strongsville), BW's leading point-getter, garnered a three-point night with one goal and three assists in the defeat.
BW senior All-OAC goalkeeper Ashleigh Hidreth (North Tonawanda, N.Y./ Sweet Home) made ten saves on 26 total shots faced, as she saw her record drop to 2-3 on the year.
There was no shortage of offense in the first half as both teams combined to score 16 goals. The goal-friendly period began with a back-and-fourth battle between the two adversaries, as they exchanged scored the five first goals of the game leading up to the 21:33 mark. At that point, BW was able to notch consecutive scores from Ray and O'Neill, their second goals of the game, respectively. BW would go on to score two of the game's next three goals to take hold its largest lead of the game at 5-3 with 12:27 remaining in the first half. Randolph-Macon (3-3) then came alive to close out the period, stringing together a five-goal run and a 6-1 run overall to sway the momentum in its favor with a three-goal cushion headed to the intermission.
Randolph-Macon's colossal run spilled into the second half, as it kicked off the period with another two goals in the first 6:12. Trailing by five, BW relied on its leading goal-scorers to claw back into the game. At the 19:55 mark, Ray netted her team-high fourth goal of the game with an assist being credited to Martineau. Then Martineau got in the scoring column herself with her 14th goal of the year. However, BW's attempt at a comeback was short-lived as Randolph-Macon ended the second half as strongly as it did in the first, potting four of the last five goals in the game to ruin BW's spring break opener and secure the home victory as time expired.
BW returns to the field on Monday, March 9 when it travels to Bridgewater, Virginia to compete against Bridgewater (Va.) College in its second of three total spring break trip games at 6:00 p.m. in the Jopson Athletic Complex.
