Women's Lacrosse Slays Dragons 13-6

By Connect Mason Reporter Will Scullion
Photos by Connect Mason Multimedia Director Grace Kendall

A strong showing on defense mixed with a late first-half scoring run led the 12th-ranked George Mason women’s lacrosse team to their sixth home win in a row.

Mason (11-3, 4-1 CAA) defeated the Drexel Dragons (10-6, 2-4 CAA) 13-6 Friday night at George Mason Stadium.

• Click here for game photos.

Even though her team won big, Mason coach Amy Bokker, in her 11th season with the Patriots, does not take the win for granted.

“I think I’ve said it before but every time we get a win in the CAA it feels good,” Bokker said. “It’s a tough conference and all the teams are going to play tough. You never know what might happen.”

Senior midfielder Megan Bartlett led the scoring for the Patriots with three goals. Senior attacker Laura King, freshman midfielder Chelsea Gamble, junior midfielder Alana Chan, freshman attacker Madalyn Jamison and sophomore attacker Megan Udovich each had two goals.

Much of the Patriot’s offense came during a 9-0 scoring run late in the first half.

Junior attacker Brittany Berger recorded four of Mason’s seven assists.

Sophomore goalkeeper Sara Longobucco played the entire game in goal for the Patriots and recorded seven saves.

While the Patriots brought heavy firepower on offense, it was defensive prowess that won Mason the game.

The Patriots caused the Dragons to turn the ball over 14 times. Comparatively, Drexel only caused four turnovers.

“They’re a really good team but our defense noticed what they were doing a lot quicker than last time and that gave us the ability to win,” Longobucco said.

Senior attacker Nicole Adams came off the bench to lead Drexel in scoring with three goals.

Junior Lauren Labella played the first half in goal for the Dragons. She recorded four saves and gave up nine goals. Junior Rachael Behrndt played the second half for the Dragons. She recorded six saves and gave up four goals.

There were an unusually high number of fouls in the game. Mason committed 19 and Drexel committed 26.

“Drexel is a tough team,” Bokker said. “They’re going to play hard and aggressive especially when they get down by a couple and I think our team is pretty aggressive to. We play a high pressure type of defense so that contributes to a lot more fouls in the game.”

The next game for the Patriots comes April 20 against Hofstra at George Mason Stadium. It will be the last regular season home game for the Patriots this season. The Patriots are 3-3 against Hofstra since 2002.

Mason closes out its regular season April 26 at JMU.