Lacrosse downs Edinboro behind Fugate’s hat trick

A three-game losing streak came to an end for the Shippensburg University lacrosse team when it took down Edinboro University, 11-6, in an offensive show.

The team had struggled against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponents in West Chester University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and East Stroudsburg University. Both the offense and defense had problems, being outscored 53–25 in the stretch.

The units came back strong against Edinboro, jumping out to a 6–1 lead at halftime.

The Raiders (7–8, 3–7 PSAC) gave up the first goal of the game to Edinboro, but went on to score eight straight, grabbing an 8–1 lead with only 15 minutes left in the game.

The Raiders withstood an onslaught from the Fighting Scots, who scored three goals in a row midway through the second half to cut the margin to 8–4. SU responded and Edinboro never got closer.

Allison Fugate was the spark on both sides of the ball, picking up her second hat trick of the season and sixth of her career. She also collected an impressive 10 groundballs, the most by a Raider in a game since 2011.

In her senior season, Fugate improved her total to 24 goals with the hat trick, now only two goals behind her career-best 26 in 2017. She also only needs three assists to pass her career-high nine from last season.

The game was not the smoothest, with both teams combining for more than 50 turnovers. SU had the advantage in that category, allowing 20 as opposed to Edinboro’s 32. The Raiders also impressed with 40 total recovered groundballs, their most since the end of the 2016 season.

In addition to Fugate’s hat trick, Maddy Siejk scored two goals, joined by six other Raiders who contributed a goal, including T.J. Johnson, Madi Newman and Jordan Kengor, who all had one assist as well.

Raider goalkeeper KiKi Brasher had eight saves for her seventh win of the season. She has had at least eight saves in 12 games for SU this season.

The Raiders will look to improve on this win when it travels to take on Lock Haven University tomorrow at 4 p.m. SU only has two games left in the regular season.