For the second straight game, the Rangers rallied from a half-time deficit to secure a comeback win in women's lacrosse action. Drew used a 12-4 second half edge to topple Montclair State at Ranger Stadium, 19-14.

First-year attack Stacie Brown scored five goals and grabbed 12 draw controls in the win for Drew. Bethany Blaine (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) scored five times for the Red Hawks. Drew improves to 2-0 with the win as it heads out to Texas for spring break. Lindsey Perno (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) had four goals and an assist in the win for Drew.

The Rangers continued their maddening habit of spotting the other side a 2-0 lead as they did against Mt. St. Vincent's on Sunday. Goals from the Red Hawks' top two scorers Marykate DiBenedetto and Blaine put MSU up a pair after just 3:36 of play. Sophomore Morgan Kenney got the Rangers on the board with a trickling goal and Cara Jeffries, who had an outstanding game for Drew with four goals, tied it up from a free position. Jeffries then put the Rangers ahead off a feed from Meghan Santaniello after nine minutes of play, 3-2. Brown got on the board right off the draw control, putting Drew up 4-2 just 11 seconds later.

Goals from Katie Barrie and Blaine tied it at four as the high scoring affair was just 11 minutes old. Lindsey Perno put Drew up 5-4 with a nice goal, but it sparked a 6-1 run by the Red Hawks with Kayla Henderson scoring a hat-trick off the bench in the stretch. Down 10-6, Brown pulled one back for the Rangers with under a minute to play.

Remember last season when the Rangers would take a hefty lead into half-time and then slowly give it away before pulling out the win in the closing stages? This team, so far, is showing itself to be the opposite. During the half-time break, Head Coach Kim Christos, newly minted in the Century Club at Drew following her 100th win in the Green and Blue, let her team know that a stronger defensive effort and better movement on offense was expected in the second half.

An inspired start saw Samantha Silver tally her first of the game after 90 seconds of play before DiBennedetto countered. The Rangers then reeled off six straight goals as they won nearly every draw thanks to Brown and got tallies from four different players. Jeffries started the rally with a free position goal and completed it off a Kenney feed.

Perno scored twice in the run along with one each from Silver and Brown. It was Brown's tally at 40:25 that tied it up at 11-11 and Silver put Drew up for good just 35 seconds later.

Down 14-11, Montclair State got a threatening goal from DiBenedetto at 48:15 to pull the Hawks within two, but the Rangers quickly responded with a big goal from Allison O'Neal just 15 seconds later. When O'Neal scored on an FPS goal two minutes later, the 16-12 lead was starting to look like it would hold up.

Brown finished off the contest with a pair of goals in the next five minutes to put Drew up 18-12. A flash of concern after Blaine's fourth with just under five minutes left was assuaged as Perno ripped home her fourth just 16 seconds later. Only Blaine's fifth tally of the game was left as the Rangers put a second in the win column heading to the Lone Star State.

Lost in all the scoring was another strong defensive effort in the second half as Drew allowed just four goals and just five shots in the period. Drew out-groundballed the Red Hawks in the second 13-9 thanks in part to Landmark Defender of the Week Jen Schoepflin's five and Brown's four. The University of Dallas is next as the Rangers will take the field in the shadow of the Alamo, or at least in the same general vicinity down in San Antonio.

2008-03-07