Moon Township, Pa -- In just its second season competing as an intercollegiate program, the Youngstown State women's lacrosse team is a conference champion!
The Penguins scored 10 of the final 14 goals to overcome a 13-9 deficit as they rallied for a 19-17 victory over Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township, Pa. YSU finishes in a three-way tie atop the Mid-American Conference standings with RMU and Central Michigan. All teams finished 8-2 and split contests against one another on the campaign.
The deficit was 13-9 at the 10:43 mark of the third period, but Youngstown State scored five straight goals to take a 14-13 lead. RMU tied the score at 14 by the end of the period and at 15 with 11:44 left in the fourth, but a goal by Lauren Ottensmeyer from the free position 40 seconds later put the Penguins back up 16-15. They went on to score four straight goals to take a 19-15 lead with 3:07 left, and YSU held off a late charge by the Colonials to hold on for the championship win.
Ali Korin led all players with seven goals, and Natalie Calandra-Ryan added five. Savannah Clarke had eight saves in goal. Erin Clark added three assists as did Calandra-Ryan who finished with eight points.
The Penguins bolted out of the gates scoring the first three goals of the contest. Ottensmeyer, Korin and Calandra-Ryan each scored in the first 3:07 forcing the Colonials to call an early timeout. RMU settled down and quickly answered with four consecutive tallies to take its first lead of the game. The high-scoring first period ended with Robert Morris holding a 7-6 lead.
At one point, the Colonials scored six of eight goals and were in front 11-8 late in the first half. Just before halftime Korin found the back of the net to pull YSU within two at the intermission.
Once the contest was tied 15-all, YSU rattled off four straight goals. Ottensmeyer gave YSU a lead with 11:04 left and it never trailed again. With 7:12 left, Korin had an unassisted goal to push the advantage to 17-15. Leading by two, Calandra-Ryan's highlight-reel behind the head goal pushed the lead to 18-15 at the 4:20 mark. Jordan Miller ended the flurry when she drained a feed from Calandra-Ryan at the 3:07 mark.
RMU scored two straight goals to pull within 19-17 and won the final draw control of the contest. A hurried shot by RMU was followed by a turnover and YSU was able to run out the clock for its first-ever win over the Colonials.
YSU won the draw controls 21-19, ground balls 14-10 and had three fewer turnovers.
The Penguins are next in action at the MAC semifinals which begin on Thursday.
