BEREA, Ohio - Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC defender Hannah Stein (Medina/Highland) set the all-time program record for career draw controls, as the Baldwin Wallace Univesity women's larosse team suffered its first loss of the season in a rescheduled non-conference game aginst the the College of Wooster by a final score of 20-15 in George Finnie Stadium.
Sitting at 194 draw controls for her career, Stein needed just six more entering tonight's game to set the all-time BW (2-1) women's lacrosse program record. At the 5:04 mark of the first half, Stein accomplished just that, becoming the first player in program history to collect her 200th career draw control. The 199 career draw controls mark was previously held by Maddie Russell, who played for the Yellow Jackets from 2014 to 2017. In addition to her career milestone, Stein also tied her own single-game program record with 13 draw controls on the night, which marked the third time she has accomplished the feat.
Leading the way for BW was senior All-OAC attacker Brie Martineau (Strongsville), who scored a team and season-best six goals. Junior attacker Alexis O'Neill (Westlake) garnered her second consecutive four-point game, notching two goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Savanna Jaekle (Lockport, N.Y.) also chipped in with her first hat-trick of the season.
Senior All-OAC goalkeeper and reigning OAC Defensive Player of the Week Ashleigh Hildreth (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) made seven saves on 25 total shots faced, suffering her first loss of the season and dropping her record to 2-1. Freshman goalkeeper Kyle Bliss (Fenton, Mich.) got her first taste of collegiate action in between the pipes for the Yellow Jackets, allowing two goals on two shots in 3:47 of relief.
The Wooster offense was spearheaded by junior attacker Alexa Mellis and junior midfielder Katie Harvey, as the two combined for 13 of the Fighting Scots' 20 total goals. Mellis tallied a game-high seven goals, while Harvey added four scores of her own.
BW's Martineau got the offense rolling in tonight's rainy affair, as the Yellow Jackets leading scorer netted a hat-trick in the game's first 8:45 of action put her team up 3-1 early on. However, Wooster responded right back, potting two goals in the next 2:16 to nod the game up at 3-3. Martineau continued her hot start by scoring her fourth goal of the game to regain the on-goal edge for BW. The remainder of the first half turned into an offensive explosion for the Fighting Scots, as Wooster proceeded to score eight of the game's next nine goals to take a commanding 11-5 lead with 2:29 remaining before the intermission. Reluctant to let the game slip away just yet, the Yellow Jackets managed to net two goals from junior midfielder Maddie Ray (Cuyahoga Falls/Akron Reserve) and O'Neill before the period's conclusion to cut the deficit to four.
Initiated by Mellis' seventh goal of the night, the Fighting Scots neutralized the BW two-goal threat by scoring the first two goals of the second half in just 2:42 of play. The Yellow Jackets responded by putting another sizeable dent in Wooster's six-goal cushion with three straight goals, which included Ray's second of the night. However, the Fighting Scots remained relentless in the scoring column, potting four of the next five goals in less than three minutes. BW's Martineau picked up her fifth goal of the game at the 11:20 mark of the second period to bring the score to 18-13, hoping to inspire one more push at a Yellow Jackets comeback. With BW's Jaekle notching her third goal of the game, in addition to Martineau's sixth score, the Yellow Jackets chipped away to get back to within four with 4:21 remaining in regulation. Ultimately, that was all BW could muster as Wooster held on for the road victory and handed the Yellow Jackets their first loss of the season.
The Yellow Jackets return to the field tomorrow, Wednesday, March 4 when they travel to nearby Oberlin for a non-conference matchup against Oberlin College on Fred Shults Field at 5:00 p.m.
