The Shippensburg University women’s lacrosse team snapped a four-game losing streak to PSAC rival East Stroudsburg University on a sunny Saturday afternoon by scoring 11 goals in the first half and limiting the Warriors to just two goals in the second half of a 16-10 victory from Robb Sports Complex.

SU had four of its players finish the contest with hat tricks to pick up its first win over ESU since 2008. Jessica Schubach made her first start of the season and played with gusto, scoring five goals and adding a career-high three assists to pace the Raiders offensively. She also had two groundball pickups.

Lindsey Kennedy was entirely dominant in her time on the field in Saturday’s game, scoring three goals, providing two assists, winning seven draw controls, recording three caused turnovers and picking up two groundballs. Her presence on the draw was particularly valuable, but her play in the midfield and on the attack was paramount to the team’s success.

Lauren Hauck scored three times and had three groundball pickups. Hauck also contributed two assists, which brings her season total to 21 and she now ranks fifth in single-season school history for the category. Bennett Widlake also had a hat trick and aided the cause with four draw controls.

The first half was all about offense, as both teams took regular advantage of their scoring opportunities. ESU goalkeeper Katie Zollo made eight saves in the first half, including several at point-blank range, but the score was 11-8 in Shippensburg’s favor at halftime.

The difference in the game was SU’s defensive approach in the second half. The Raiders kept the Warriors off the scoreboard for the first 18 minutes of the second half and tallied four times, including once on a man-down situation, to build a 15-8 advantage. The capper of SU’s four-goal run came after a splendid run up field through the defense by Liz French who fired a pass over to Hauck for an easy goal.

French was one of several defenders with an excellent performance. She recorded four draw controls, two caused turnovers and had a groundball pickup. Ali Cross had two caused turnovers and made five saves, while Sarah Chrencik and Jenna Simmons combined for five groundballs.
Kayla Dalzell and Courtney Kennedy also tallied goals for the Raiders in the contest.

Courtney Kennedy is now up to 19 goals, which is the most in one season by a SU freshman since 2001.

The Raiders will face three of the PSAC’s Top 5 teams in the standings over the course of the next week. Today, SU travels to Lock Haven for a 4 p.m. showdown with the Lady Eagles.
SU will host Mercyhurst University and Gannon University next weekend.

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