University of Delaware Athletics
University of Delaware
5-5
San Diego State
8-4
Clutch play leads Blue Hens to 11-10 win over SDSU
3/27/2018 8:25:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
NEWARK, Del. – Head Coach Kateri Linville of the University of Delaware women's lacrosse program calls this week championship week with quick turnarounds and short prep for upcoming opponents. It's a simulation of what comes into play during the competitive CAA schedule. This is the week that will prepare the Blue Hens for chasing their ultimate goal: a CAA Championship.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Blue Hens passed the first test of the week, using clutch play on both the offensive and defensive end to come away with an 11-10 win against the Aztecs of San Diego State.
“I thought we played tough and we had a lot of different people step up throughout the game. It wasn't our cleanest or best game, but it was good to see us dig deep and will themselves to a win,” Linville said.
Defensively, Delaware caused 15 turnovers for the second straight game, while grabbing 28 ground balls, the most since a win over William & Mary last spring. Chantae Simms had a huge day, causing three turnovers and grabbing a career-high seven ground balls. Senior Taylor Carpentier continued her strong play in goal, finishing with 11 saves on the afternoon.
Offensively, the Blue Hens had five different players have multi-goal performances, leading the way was senior Becky Gohsler, who finished with two goals and two assists. Sarah Bedard and Megan Santoleri each had two goals and one assist on the night, while Christine Long had a huge game off the bench with two goals.
“We really talk about trying to have a balanced attack, we want to have seven options offensively,” Linville added. “We want to keep working on having them all playing consistently at a high level as we head into CAA play.”
San Diego State grabbed the first goal of the game, but Bedard and Gohsler scored goals within four minutes of each to give Delaware a 2-1 lead.
The Aztecs would score four of the game's next five goals to take a 5-3 lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half.
Delaware's defense locked in and the offensive went to work, scoring five unanswered to take an 8-5 lead with 20 minutes to play in the contest.
The Blue Hen defense held the Aztecs without a goal for 30 minutes before SDSU would go on a run, scoring four goals in a five minute span to tie the game at 9-9 with seven minutes remaining.
The teams traded goals before junior Maggie McCarthy took a feed from Gohsler and sent the game-winner into the back of the net with 4:45 to play.
Delaware's defense would hold strong and preserve the 11-10 win.
The Blue Hens wrap up non-conference play on Saturday afternoon when they host #19 Princeton at Delaware Stadium. Game time on LSN is set for 3 p.m.
