HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's lacrosse team got a massive Landmark Conference win over visiting Susquehanna, 15-14, Wednesday evening at Gibbel Stadium.
Peyton Goodrich led the way with six goals, an assist, three ground balls, six draw controls, and two caused turnovers. Grace Gibbs had three goals, four ground balls, seven draw controls, and three caused turnovers, while Kyndall Yeager had two goals and a draw control. Shannon Para tallied two goals and a ground ball, while Skyler Stevens had a goal and an assist. Kelliann Drummond added a goal and a ground ball, and Caoilinn Heatley made 11 saves in goal for JC.
The Eagles were off to the races. Goodrich scored on a free position shot, Gibbs dodged past her defender to beat the keeper, and Yeager finished on a pass from Stevens, putting JC up 3-0 in the first three minutes. From there, Susquehanna controlled the rest of the quarter, scoring four straight goals, including the last one with 14 seconds to go in the quarter to lead 4-3.
The River Hawks' dominance continued as they tacked on two more goals early in the second to increase their lead to three. The Eagles found their footing as Gibbs scored and Goodrich added two more less than a minute a part that tied the game at six. SU countered with a pair of goals and led 8-6 at the halftime break.
SU started the third with a goal, but the Eagles answered with four straight in six minutes as Yeager, Para, and Gibbs all scored to tie the game at nine. Three minutes later, Stevens took her time as she drove right then back to the left before losing her defender and beating the keeper with a low shot to give the Eagles the lead back, 10-9. SU answered with two more to end the third as JC trailed by one, 11-10.
The teams traded two goal spurts over the first four minutes as Goodrich and Para struck for the Eagles, but JC trailed by one with just under 11 minutes to go in the game. Goodrich split a pair of defenders and ripped a shot into the top of the net to tie things again. A minute later, she rolled from the right and fired past the keeper to give the Eagles the lead back. Less than a minute later, Drummond noticed her defender tried to meet her on the other side of the goal, she raced towards the near post, spun past her defender trying to recover and beat the keeper to make it 15-13. This proved important as SU scored with three and a half minutes remaining in the game. The River Hawks had a final chance in the 30 seconds but turned the ball over. Gibbs raced the other way, and the clock hit zeros.
Juniata will host Goucher on Saturday at 1:00.
