HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's lacrosse team gave Drew all they could handle, but the Rangers pulled away in the final period to hand the Eagles a 16-11 loss Saturday afternoon at Gibbel Stadium on Senior Day.
Shayla Lapp (Lancaster, Pa. / Lampeter-Strasburg) and Talia Bertrando (Lititz, Pa. / Warwick) scored two goals apiece, with Bertrand adding an assist. They both contributed two groundballs, and two caused turnovers each, with Lapp adding a draw control. Grace Gibbs (Arnold, Md. / Broadneck) and Peyton Goodrich (Reading, Pa. / Berks Catholic) had their fingerprints all over the offense as they found the back of the net three times to go with an assist. Gibbs added four ground balls, nine draw controls, and three caused turnovers, while Goodrich amassed three ground balls, four draw controls, and two caused turnovers. Kelliann Drummond (Lancaster, Pa. / Lampeter-Strasburg) had a goal and an assist, and Kyndall Yeager (Westminster, Md. / South Carroll) chipped in with an assist.
The Rangers put four goals on the scoreboard over the first seven minutes, all on free-position shots. With three minutes to in the quarter, Bertrando took a pass in the midfield and went the distance, juking a girl out of the way before finishing past the keeper. She added another a minute later to bring JC within two.
Bertrando goes down and puts JC on the board #WingsUp #GoEagles #TakingFlight pic.twitter.com/N3RY8Bx90z
— Juniata Athletics (@JuniataEagles) April 9, 2022
The second quarter saw the teams trade goals, with Lapp, Gibbs, and Goodrich finding the back of the net for the Eagles. Bertrando found Goodrich, who scored from in front of goal while taking a beating to send the Eagles into the locker room down one.
Bertrando finds Goodrich to bring the Eagles within one going into HT #WingsUP #TakingFlight #GoEagles pic.twitter.com/V0hlG36eu4
— Juniata Athletics (@JuniataEagles) April 9, 2022
Yeager found Goodrich for her second of the day a minute and a half into the third to tie things at six, but the Rangers retook the lead a minute later.
Goodrich turned provider, setting up Lapp's second of the day before Gibbs carved through the Ranger defense to give JC their first lead of the day at 8-7. Juniata couldn't expand the lead over the next few minutes, and the Rangers made them pay as they scored four goals spanning into the fourth quarter to make it 11-8 with 14 minutes to go in the contest.
Drummond found Goodrich for a goal, and Gibbs scored on a free position shot to narrow the deficit to one again, but the Rangers rattled off another three goals in a little under five minutes to make it 14-10. Drummond's goal with just under seven minutes to go was JC's final goal of the game, and the visitors tacked on two more to complete the scoring.
Chloe Gerhard (Macungie, Pa. / Emmaus) had 12 saves in goal for the Eagles and made several impressive stops to keep JC in it.
The Rangers had a noticeable 15-6 edge in free position shots, as they managed to convert eight of them while the Eagles converted two.
Juniata returns to action next Friday against Elizabethtown at 4:00.
