Women's Lacrosse Fall in Close Contest Against Concordia

Athens, Tenn.- The women's lacrosse team returned back to the TWU Athletic Complex after playing their past two games in Florida on Saturday. The team played a non-conference game against the Concordia University (Mich.) Lady Cardinals.

Concordia scored the first goal of the contest. The next three went in the net for TWU. Olivia Downey scored the first goal of the game for the Lady Bulldogs while Olivia Ritter scored back-to-back goals to give the team a 3-1 advantage. Mac Alexander had two assists on the goals and Kate Buchannan had the third assist. The remainder of the first quarter saw the teams exchange goals. Scores by Buchannan and Ritter helped the team take a 5-3 lead into the second quarter.

The opponents scored the first two goals of a low-scoring second quarter to tie the score 5-5. Ritter took a pass from Jozlyn Long and converted it into a goal for Tennessee Wesleyan, giving them a 6-5 lead at halftime.

Out of the halftime break, the opponents put the game in a 6-6 tie. Downey scored on an Alexander assist to break the tie. Hannah Housley moved the team ahead by two goals, making the score 8-6. The tide turned as Concordia scored four consecutive goals to end the third quarter with a 10-8 advantage.

The opponents opened the fourth quarter with two more goals to extend their lead to four goals. Ritter scored on a Downey assist but the team could not find the goals to win the game, falling to the visitors 14-9.

Ritter led the team with five goals in the game while Downey had two goals. Housley and Buchannan each had one goal. Alexander finished with three assists in the game. Rylee Brendlinger had 12 saves in the net.

Up next for Lady Bulldogs (0-7, 0-2 AAC) is a home conference contest against St. Andrews University on Saturday. The game is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m.