ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- The Elizabethtown College women's lacrosse team had an early lead against Widener, but saw the Pride take it away in the first half and couldn't get it back in a 20-13 loss at Wolf Field on Saturday in the team's home opener.
Madelyn Baker and and Widener's Kelly Lynch and Melanie Bert each tied for a game-high with six goals.
Baker scored twice in the opening two and a half minutes off feeds from
Lexie Sharp and
Julia Ferrante. Elizabethtown (0-2) led 2-0 with 27:35 on the clock in the first half. After Widener (1-0) got on the board thanks to one of Lynch's game-high six assists,
Mirthe Berends answered for the Blue Jays. Her first of the season came on a free position attempt.
Caroline Kelly brought the Pride back within a goal, but
Jess Principe scored her first career goal a minute and a half later, unassisted, to double the Jays' lead at 4-2.
Widener produced the next four goals to take the lead for the first time and go ahead 6-4. Berends recorded her second of the day on another free position. The Pride outscored the Blue Jays 4-2 the rest of the first half and took a 10-7 lead into halftime. Sharp and
Kate Ziegler had the final two goals of the first half for E-town.
WID got the first three goals out of halftime and took a 13-7 lead with less than 28 minutes to go in the second half. Baker and
Abby Spessard scored 1:09 apart to make it 13-9. Baker collected her sixth of the season and fourth of the game five minutes later to get Elizabethtown into double figures and down by three.
The deficit was just a little too much to overcome as the Pride countered with four goals before Sharp scored her fifth of the season with 11:20 remaining in regulation and the Jays down 17-11.
Baker posted consecutive goals, one unassisted and the other from Principe to make one last comeback bid for E-town. Widener held the Jays scoreless after Baker's sixth of the game with 8:10 left. Widener scored three more times before the final horn sounded.
Elizabethtown put 24 shots on goal, but Widener goalie Katie Hayes made several tough saves to keep the ball out of the cage. She finished with 11 saves.
Abby Kopytko made 10 for the Blue Jays. Lynch ended with 6 goals and 6 assists for the Pride. Baker's 6 goals and 1 assist (7 points) were a team-high for E-town.
The Blue Jays are on the road at Marymount (Va.) on Wednesday, February 27, at 7 p.m.
