Charlotte, N.C. – The No. 17 Mount Olive Trojans rallied late to top the Lee women's lacrosse team, 16-13 on Sunday afternoon.
The Trojans outscored the Lady Flames, 6-1 in the fourth period to score the comeback victory. Lee held advantages of 6-2 in the first half and 12-9 late in the third quarter before Mount Olive roared back.
"Lacrosse is a game of runs and today we weren't able to make a run in the fourth quarter when we needed," said Lee head coach Derrel Martin. "I thought we battled and played hard but we had trouble winning the draw control late in the game and that allowed them the opportunity to make their run. When you have too evenly matched teams playing you have to minimize your mistakes and at times today we didn't make the proper read when passing and that cost us."
Dariana Blanton led the Lady Flames with a game-high six goals. Brittney White added three and Hannah Vecsey and Hannah Nee posted two each.
The physical contest featured seven total yellow cards, three on the Lady Flames and four shown to Mount Olive. The Trojans scored a short-handed go-ahead goal by Meaghan Michaud to make it 13-12.
Kaleigh Bernard started in goal and worked the first half for the Lady Flames. She recorded six saves and allowed seven goals. Caleigh Smith was called on for the second half and allowed nine goals while posting two saves. Nee scooped up two ground balls and caused a turnover while Jamey Ryan also registered two ground balls.
Claire Hagen earned the victory in goal for the Trojans. She allowed eight goals and had eight saves.
Mount Olive held a 35-26 advantage in shots. Lee was 15 of 17 in clears while the Trojans were 14 of 20. Mount Olive held a slight 11-9 edge in ground balls.
"Overall, I thought we did a nice job defensively," added Martin. "We were able to force some turnovers and were very efficient in clearing the ball. We made some corrections to our defense and mixed-up zone and man to man defense. They are a talented team, and we knew that this would be a good battle. Despite the loss, games like these will serve us well as we move forward this season."
The loss drops the Lady Flames to 1-3 but 2 of the 3 losses have come against top 17 ranked teams in the nation. Mount Olive improves to 1-1 on the year.
Lee will return home for a Friday night battle with UVA-Wise at 7 p.m. from the Ray Conn Sports Complex.
