Akron, Ohio - The Youngstown State women's lacrosse team concluded the 2024 season at Akron on Sunday, falling to the Zips 17-7 at InfoCision Stadium.
The Penguins finish the season 0-16 overall and 0-6 in the Mid-American Conference. Akron improves to 7-9 on the season with a 2-4 conference record.
Freshman Ava Kreutzer delivered a first-half hat trick, finding the back of the net three times all in the final six minutes of the second quarter.
Four other Penguins found the back of the net: Katie Grottenthaler, Dany Emler, Callie Vaudry, and Ally Garrett. Grottenthaler also delivered an assist in the contest alongside Madison Maciag. Emler scored her first goal of the season and also recorded an impressive performance on the defensive end with a game-leading three caused turnovers.
Paige Borkowski made nine saves at goal while Molly Sheridan tallied three ground balls, three draw controls, and a caused turnover.
Leading Akron's scoring effort was Noella Boyd with four goals while Macy Vail and Sienna Hinchcliffe also recorded hat tricks.
The Penguins struggled to gain possession of the ball through draw controls as Akron collected 20 compared to YSU's six. This aided the Zips as they outshot the Penguins 33-22 throughout the contest.
Youngstown State delivered the first score of the contest on a Vaudry goal at the 13:14 mark of the first quarter but Akron quickly answered with two of its own. Grottenthaler sprinted for the score with 7:16 remaining in quarter one to tie things up at 2-2.
The Zips would go onto score the next seven goals to take a 9-2 lead over the Penguins before Kreutzer caught fire and scored three goals in under five minutes of play.
First, Kreutzer fired a Maciag pass into the net at the 5:48 mark of the second quarter before Grottenthaler connected with her on a woman-up goal with 4:18 remaining in the half. This brought the Guins within five of the Zips, but Akron scored another two to make the score 11-4 at the 2:14 mark of quarter two. Kreutzer scored her third goal with 1:19 remaining in the half as she found the back of the net unassisted to make the score 11-5 at halftime.
Akron held YSU scoreless in the third quarter and put up five goals of its own to own a 16-5 lead headed into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, the Penguins outscored the Zips 2-1 as Emler and Garrett found the back of the net, making the final score 17-7.
