RADFORD, Va. – The Radford University women's lacrosse team wrapped up its season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Wofford College by a final score of 17-13.
The visiting Terriers jumped out to an early lead, scoring seven goals by the midway point of the opening quarter. Wofford's first-period offense sandwiched a pair of Highlander goals from
Reece Morrish and
Linley Tirrell. Morrish put Radford on the board when she fired in a nice feed from
Erica Lawrence. Less than 60 seconds later, Tirrell then slotted home a free position shot to halve the deficit.
The Highlanders made a late push to close out the first quarter by scoring three consecutive goals within a four-and-a-half-minute span. A pair of second scores came in from Tirrell, who scored off of a feed from
Evie Gee, and then Morrish, who scored via
Ashlyn Grogan's assist.
Mady Cheney closed out the scoring in the opening 15 minutes of play with a free position shot to trim the Terriers' lead to just two.
Wofford extended its advantage in the second frame, scoring four of the five goals in the quarter. The Highlanders goal in the second quarter came from Lawrence, who cut through the middle of the field and scored via an assist from Tirrell.
Radford came out of the halftime break with a little more juice, and outscored their visitors by one in the third frame.
Margaret Gleason opened the Highlanders' second-half scoring just over three minutes into the resumption of play. Tirrell then completed her hat trick just past the midway of quarter number three, her fifth hattie of the campaign.
The Highlanders got back within three thanks to a trio of goals, starting with Cheney. The freshman scored on a beautiful unassisted run, and then Morrish sealed her fourth hat trick this season with a successful free position shot. Gleason then tabbed her second of the day to open the fourth quarter as the Brentwood, Tenn. native ultimately finished with a team-high 45 goals this season.
After seeing their lead dwindle to just three goals, the Terriers fired back with a pair of goals to put the game away. Radford never quit fighting, however, as Morrish tacked on another. Cheney then scored her third of the day with just a few seconds remaining in the match. The midfielder from Georgetown, Texas finished the year with three hat tricks in her rookie season.
The hosts were led in scoring by Morrish's four-piece. Tirrell and Cheney both had hat tricks, while Tirrell also tallied a couple assists. Gleason poured in a pair of goals as the senior ends her year having scored in every game she played in this season, and the third-most goals scored in the Big South Conference. Lawrence also contributed with one goal and one assist.
Olivia Hunter ended the contest with 10 saves. The junior goalkeeper played every minute of the season in goal for the Highlanders and finishes off the year leading the league in saves and save percentage.
UP NEXT
With a youthful squad under second-year head coach
Samantha Hurley, as well as the overwhelming majority of the players returning to the squad next year, the Highlanders' future is very bright. Radford's five wins this season is just one shy of the program record.
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