Drew women's lacrosse lost the Landmark Conference Championship match, 11-10, to Catholic in an instant classic. The gripping game saw the Cardinals rally from two goals down before Drew came within an inch of tying the game in the finals minutes of play. Catholic's Kate Robinson scored three goals including the final two for the Cardinals while Cara Jeffries scored four times for the Rangers.

Drew had defeated Catholic at Ranger Stadium a week ago to the day to earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs. By the 1:00 opening draw, the sun had burst through the clouds bathing the turf in unexpected sunshine. Whereas the regular season victory over Catholic began with a 6-0 Drew run, the Cardinals were the first to get on the board in this game. Caroline Taltavull netted from a tight angle with just over one minute gone in the game. The Cardinals had two more good chances to make it 2-0, but Rachel Hanley made a pair of saves on 8-meter shots over the next two minutes.

After Elizabeth Law made a nice run out of the defensive end on a clear, Lyndsay Rossi tied the game for the first time. The rookie took a pass from Law 40 meters away from goal before beating her defender to the left. The lower, right side corner shot from about four meters out made it 1-1 with 25:50 left. Drew went up 2-1 four minutes later. Cara Jeffries did all herself as she took a long run in from the corner before curling behind the net and across the face of goal. She tucked it in back across her body with a low shot into the net.

Against the team that leads the NCAA in caused turnovers, the Rangers did an acceptable job taking care of the ball, but it seemed that Catholic punished every mistake. With ten minutes played, Hanley made a nice save on Laura Haring's shot, but threw away her clearance attempt. Mary Swarthout picked up a ground ball that would eventually turn into a Lindsay Davenport goal to make it 2-2. It didn't take long for the Cardinals to get their third then fourth goals as Haring and Swarthout scored in quick succession.

Drew was still down 4-2 with 13:30 left in the half. Melissa Brashear had just made a great save on a Jeffries' attempt, but Law intercepted the clearance to give Jeffries another chance. This time the sophomore put it away with style as she fired a jump shot from six meters past Brashear.

Stacie Brown tied the game for the third time with a goal two minutes later. She feinted left before cutting back to the right to spin her defender before finishing to the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Drew retook the lead at 8:30 as Rossi beat her defender and two sliders with a sweet spin move to get onto her right hand before bouncing back into that same lower corner she hit the first time around.

A key ground ball from Cristina Lanzilotta set up the Rangers next goal as they went up by their largest lead of the game at 6-4. Jeffries pass off a restart led Rebecca Schild across the face of goal. Schild has one the best shots in the Landmark and used to rip home from close range with 5:11 left in the half.

The Cardinals responded with the next two goals to tie the game for the fourth time. Kelly Ryan scored on free position attempt with just under three minutes remaining. It was the only time that the Cardinals would get past Hanley from eight meters in the game. Another costly turnover by the Rangers led to the tying goal. Kate Robinson finished well as she found the back of the net despite being knocked to the ground.

The half seemed destined to end at 6-6, but Jeffries had other plans. The sophomore's hard run through the middle drew a pair of fouls. The Rangers had been wasteful with their free position attempts up to that point, but Jeffries made good use of this one with nine seconds left. She bounced it home through traffic for the half's finish tally. A draw control by Law, one of her five in the game, ensured that half ended at 7-6.

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2009-05-03