LADY BOBCATS DEFEAT PRESBYTERIAN, 13-11, IN WOMEN’S LACROSSE
BANNER ELK, N.C. – The Lees-McRae College Lady Bobcats defeated the Presbyterian College Blue Hose 13-11 in non-conference women’s lacrosse action Thursday afternoon on Tate Field. Senior Jenn Alevetsovitis (Baltimore, Md.) led the way for the Lady Bobcats with a game-high four goals. The win was the first of the season for the Lady Bobcats.
After losing their last two games by a goal each, LMC came out flying right from the opening whistle as Alevetsovitis scored a natural hat trick to put the Lady Bobcats up 3-0 just over six minutes into the game, causing the Blue Hose to call a timeout. LMC extended the lead to 4-0 before PC got on the board with a goal from freshman Sally Maple (Peachtree City, Ga.) at 19:22. Lees-McRae regained the four-goal cushion with a goal from junior Margie Lesser (Manassas, Va.) at 18:36 only to have Blue Hose junior Kelly Sisson (Greenville, S.C.) score 24 seconds later. Lesser again restored the four goal lead with her second at 17:09 before freshman Ali Shrodes (Woodstock, Ga.) scored back to back goals at 14:27 and 8:18 to give the Lady Bobcats a commanding 8-2 lead. Junior Brittany Dabkowski (Manchester, Md.) added the first of her two goals on the afternoon at 7:07 to close the first half scoring and send the Lady Bobcats into halftime with a comfortable 9-2 lead.
A halftime pep talk seemed to generate the PC offense as they scored back-to-back goals 46 seconds apart, the first by freshman Trista Sturdivant (Street, Md.) at 24:47. Freshman Berkley Aiken (Charlotte, N.C.) potted the second to cut the LMC lead to 9-4. Alevetsovitis stopped the bleeding for Lees-McRae with her fourth of the day at 23:16, which was then negated by Sturdivant’s second of the game at 21:00. The teams traded yet another goal, leaving the Bobcats with the five-goal lead as time continued to tick away. With the score 10-6 and the ten minute mark passed, the Blue Hose began to aggressively attack the Lady Bobcats goal, scoring five goals in the game’s final ten minutes, compared to the Bobcats’ two.
Anita Hekman made a total of 14 saves in the pipes for the Lady Bobcats, many towards the end of the game with the Blue Hose pressuring to tie the game.
Alevetsovitis led the Bobcat attack with four goals, while also adding a game-high eight groundballs. Lesser contributed a hat trick, while Dabkowski and Shordes each added a pair. Junior Stephanie Jaworski (Wellington, Fla.) added a goal and seven groundballs.
For the Blue Hose, Aiken and sophomore Shannon Strodel (Duluth, Ga.) each led with three goals, while Maple and Sturdivant each added a pair. Sisson contributed a goal for PC, who had a two-game winning streak stopped and end its inaugural varsity campaign with a 2-12 record.
With the win the Lady Bobcats improve to 1-13 overall. The team will close the season out against ninth-ranked Pfeiffer University at home on Tuesday, April 18.