The 10-0 Lions may be down, but they are never out. No matter the opponent, when the game is on the line, the lacrosse team always seems to come through, with the most recent proof coming in a 14-13 overtime victory against No. 7 Franklin & Marshall College.Prior to the big showdown against the Diplomats, the women traveled to Ramapo College for a matchup between two NJAC teams. The Lions were never tested, however, and cruised to a 19-0 victory. Leading the women with six goals was junior attacker Ava Fitzgerald.
“I think that we were able to read our opponents really well and we were able to work on a lot of things that we needed to improve on,” Fitzgerald said. “We had to keep our composure no matter what and play our game at our level, (which) showed a lot of character and strength as a team on our part.”
The Lions were able to use that momentum and ride the nine-game winning streak into their home matchup against Franklin & Marshall.
“We knew we were ready to play the game because we were all really hyped up and excited for another good (one),” Fitzgerald said. “Going in we were super, super excited and we didn’t doubt ourselves for one second, which was the key to the game.”
Although the women may not have appeared worried, they certainly kept things interesting after falling behind with under a minute to go. There was no hesitation, however, and within a mere 24 seconds, the Lions scored two quick goals to give the women the lead and eventually the game. The final one was capped off by junior attacker Kendal Borup, who scored her 36th goal on the season. Borup currently ranks third in the NJAC in points per game.
“She has just been able to show up almost every game, which is something very important, and I think her stepping up as a player has been really key for our season,” Fitzgerald said. “She is such a humble person, and to have someone like that on the team that just shows up all the time and never expects any accolades or anything, I think it is really awesome.”
Despite Borup’s go-ahead goal, the Lions still had to remain focused for the final 19 seconds in the game.
“We were just so ecstatic at that point and we knew we had to finish out the game, but in our head that was really (big),” Fitzgerald said. “We still had to keep our composure at that point because we still had some time left and we knew we had to play out the rest of the time, but we were just so excited to anticipate the celebration at the end because it was well deserved at that point.”
Next week, the women face off against Rowan University on Tuesday, April 8, and the nation’s top team in Salisbury University on Saturday, April 12, in Lions Stadium.
“We need to keep our eyes on the prize, which means we really have to focus at practice and key in on any mistakes that we made against Franklin & Marshall,” Fitzgerald said. “Obviously, we are still excited about our win, but we still have to be ready for our next game (because) we still have some big games ahead of us.”
