On Wednesday, April 25, the Women’s Lacrosse team played their Code Red game, which was their last game of the season. The Tigers took on the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops. The Tigers came out on top after a hard-fought battle leaving the score 13-12.
The first half of the game showed how evenly matched Witt and OWU were, with eight goals each, as the game was off to a good start.
The Tigers and the Bishops went hand-in-hand with shots and goals. Starting off with the first goal of the game by Emily Wadds, ’19, assisted by Victoria Zysik, ’18, and followed up by a goal from OWU. But that did not slow down the Tigers. Wadds scored again, unassisted, putting the Tigers ahead, 2-1. After that, the Tigers had three goals back-to-back-to-back: the first from Gabby Zysik, ’20, followed by Shannon Brown, ’20, assisted by Wadds, and the third by Rachel Bernard, ’20.
Bernard’s goal put the Tigers ahead, but the Bishops were catching up. V. Zysik scored two more goals for the Tigers, one of which was assisted by Bernard. The next ball was drawn for control by Sami Skelly, ’20, who passed it and G. Zysik picked up the ground ball, moving down the field and passing it to Bernard. who took a shot but was blocked. This turned the ball over and gave OWU an opportunity to move the ball and score.
That play gave the Bishops confidence, and they scored two more times. However, the Bishops fouled and gave G. Zysik an opportunity for a free-position attempt that she took full advantage of and scored. That was the Tigers final goal for the half, leaving enough time for OWU to score two goals before the buzzer.
At the end of the half, the score was 8-8 and the Tigers were not out of the woods yet.
The second half started out with two more goals from OWU, and Witt did not let that slow them down. The first goal of the half was a beautiful shot from V. Zysik with an assist from her sister G. Zysik. V. Zysik followed up with another goal 44 seconds later, tying the game back up.
Following three turnovers, two from Witt and one from OWU, the sisters scored again, only this shot was scored by G. Zysik and assisted by V. Zysik.
The Tigers’ last two goals were scored by Brown and Faith Meads, ’20. With 16:17 left in the game, Witt had to play fierce defense to keep the Bishops from scoring again. Only one goal slipped by them, after a free-position shot from OWU, placing the score at 13-12 with only 8:50 left.
There were 30 seconds left on the clock the Bishops took a timeout and the field was tense because OWU had possession. Coming back to the field, the Bishops turned the ball over which gave Bernard the opportunity to pick it up and run it down the field. Meads picked the ball up after Bernard and kept the ball moving, but before she got the chance to take a shot, the buzzer sounded and the game concluded.
“We played a complete 60 minutes of lacrosse,” head coach Margaret Wolford said. “Games like that are what make coaching fun. I am so proud of our young women and am thrilled we were able to end the season on a high note.”
Game leaders of the night were V. Zysik, who lead with four goals and two assists. Mary Alyce Furlong, ’19, had a total of six saves and Bernard lead in ground balls with a total of two.
