FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
WHITTIER, Calif. (Mar. 18, 2012) - The North Central College women's lacrosse team suffered a second straight close loss on its Spring Break trip on Sunday, as Whittier College emerged with a 14-12 victory in a game of extended scoring runs at Wallace Newman Field.
The Cardinals (1-3) got a career-high six goals from junior midfielder Danielle Fiala and rallied from a five-goal deficit in the second half before the Poets scored three times in the final 10 minutes to secure the win. North Central will have one more opportunity to bring home a victory from the West Coast on Tuesday when the Cardinals travel to face Occidental College.
Whittier (2-6) scored the game's first two goals before a 12-minute scoreless stretch, during which time the Cardinals tallied three goals to take their only lead with 14:13 left in the first half. The Poets followed with three straight goals of their own and maintained a 5-3 advantage until late in the period, when Fiala scored twice in a 22-second span to tie the game at 5-5.
Whittier, however, regained the lead once again just 12 seconds later and tacked on another goal shortly before halftime to carry a 7-5 lead into the break. Fiala scored on a free-position shot just 16 seconds after play resumed, but the hosts retaliated with four goals in the next seven minutes to gain a 11-6 advantage.
North Central embarked on a 4-0 scoring surge over the next four minutes, getting two goals from Amy Frazzini, and trailed by just a 11-10 count with 10:21 to play. The Poets followed by turning a pair of North Central turnovers into scoring opportunities and building their lead back up to 13-10. Fiala scored on an assist by Frazzini with 6:52 left, and the Cardinals forced a pair of turnovers in an attempt to narrow the gap to a single goal. North Central, however, was unable to move the ball down the field and lost the ball, and Whittier's Carolyn Mukai scored with 2:56 left to rebuild the Poets' lead to three goals at 14-11. Caroline Gully was able to tally the game's final goal with 46 seconds left.
Fiala's goal total was one short of Frazzini's single-game school record, and Fiala also collected a game-high six draw controls. Goalkeeper Sarah Hon recorded eight saves.
The Cardinals' game on Tuesday at Occidental's Los Angeles campus is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
