ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley women's lacrosse team outscored visiting Arcadia University 4-1 in the second quarter and then used a fourth quarter hat trick by Alyssa Wene to defeat the Knights 14-11 on Wednesday afternoon at Arnold Field in Annville.
 
The Dutchmen (7-5, 2-0 MAC Freedom) earned an important win over the Knights (6-6, 1-1 MAC Freedom) in a game between teams that are expected to be fighting for a conference tournament berth and possible home playoff game. Arcadia won the opening draw and scored the first goal of the game on a free position shot 25 seconds in. The Dutchmen responded a minute and a half later as Wene sent a pass over the middle to Hana Neff for the game-tying goal. The game stayed tied a one until nearly midway through the opening quarter as the Knights capitalized on a failed clear attempt and scored the go-ahead goal. The Dutchmen were able to even things back up as Erin Zieber found the back of the net with 6:06 on the clock. The Knights responded with a pair of goals 39 seconds apart to go up 4-2 with 3:49 left. Wene would cut the lead in half with her first goal of the game in the final minute to make it a one-goal game.
 
LVC started the second quarter with a woman-advantage after a late card by the Knights to end the first quarter. Arcadia was able to get a turnover in the first 20 seconds and Jamie Handwerger came up with a big save as the game was about to return to even strength. LVC tied the game up just under five minutes into the period as Wene picked up her second assist on a beautiful pass to Bethany Cohee. The teams battled over the next five minutes for the go-ahead goal. Emily Beard gave the Dutchmen the advantage with her 41st goal of the year on an assist by Cohee. Zieber won the following draw control and after a yellow card, the midfield set up Beard for a woman-up goal to give LVC a two-goal advantage. Beard won the next draw and Elizabeth Morgan gave the Dutchmen a 7-4 lead with an unassisted goal with 2:26 left in the half. The Knights were able to stop the run and cut the lead to 7-5 at the half with a free position goal in the final 20 seconds.
 
Beard won the opening draw of the second half and Lougee put the Dutchmen back up by three with her second goal of the game on the first shot of the quarter. Morgan gave the Dutchmen their biggest lead of the game at 9-5 with her second unassisted goal with just under 12 minutes to go. Arcadia responded with a goal a minute later to bring the lead down to three. Neither team was able to score over the next five minutes before Molly Whisler sent a beautiful pass from behind the net to Beard who put away her second goal of the game. The Knights managed to bring the lead back to two goals at 10-8 with a pair of goals in the final five minutes of the quarter.
 
Arcadia made it a one-goal game with the first goal of the fourth quarter nearly four minutes in. Zieber won the following draw control and Wene gave the Dutchmen a little breathing room with her first goal of the quarter. The Knights countered with another goal to bring it back to a one-goal game but once again Wene came up with the big play as she won the draw control and then scored for the second time in three minutes. The score remained the same until there was 5:15 left in the game as Wene beat a defender and gave the Dutchmen a 13-10 advantage with her third goal of the quarter. Arcadia was able to cut the lead to 13-11 with a goal but Wene won the following draw control with 3:27 on the clock. LVC added an insurance goal in the final 30 seconds as Wene found Whisler across the middle to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• Wene led the Dutchmen with seven points on four goals and three assists. Four of her points came in the fourth quarter as she scored three goals and had an assist.The junior also won five draw controls.
• Beard had three goals on eight shots for her seventh hat trick of the year. She also won three draw controls.
• Morgan had two goals on her only two shots of the game.
• Zieber had two points on a goal and an assist with five draw controls and a team-high three ground balls. Zieber recorded the 200th draw control of her career on her fifth and final draw control of the game in the fourth quarter.
• Whisler and Cohee also had two points on a goal and an assist each.
• The Dutchmen had five defenders record one caused turnover each. Katie Giusti, Hayley Cowles, Julia Lancellotti, and Allison Keeney were responsible for the turnovers.
• Handwerger made eight saves in goal and had a huge free position save in the fourth quarter with the Dutchmen leading 12-10.

Up Next
LVC will be on the road this Saturday with a trip to Doylestown and a 12 p.m. start against Delaware Valley University as the Dutchmen look to stay undefeated in conference play.

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