University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Louisville
Connecticut Completes BIG EAST Weekend Sweep with 8-7 Victory Against Louisville
3/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
March 29, 2009
STORRS, Conn. - The University of Connecticut Lacrosse team outlasted Louisville in the rain on Saturday morning at George J. Sherman-Family Sports Complex winning, 8-7. Senior Whitney Michele (East Rochester, N.Y.) scored with 18 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Huskies their second-straight victory of the season.
M.E. Lapham (Cazenovia, N.Y.) had a hat trick before the first half was in the books en route to the Huskies' second conference win of the season. Connecticut is now 2-9 overall with a 2-1 mark in BIG EAST play. Louisville falls to 6-3 and 0-2 in conference action.
Although the Cardinals struck first, Katy Ryan (Hamburg, N.Y.) scored twice to give Connecticut a 2-1 lead, spurring the Huskies to a total of four unanswered goals. It was the longest scoring streak of the game with Lapham and Michele also scoring.
Louisville's Bergan Folely scored twice and Tara Restly added another to tie the game 4-4 at 11:20, cutting into the Huskies' once three-goal lead midway through the first period.
Off a dish from Kiersten Tupper (Camillus, N.Y.), Lapham struck again to regain the lead for Connecticut, 5-4. Over three minutes later, Emily Dashiell tied the game for the second time with her second of the day.
Lapham completed her fifth career hat trick at 4:01 with a free-position goal and UConn took a 6-5 halftime lead. The freshman attacker has scored three or more goals in each of the last three games this season.
The second period was marked by stifling defense by both sides with the Cardinals and Huskies combining for a mere 23 total shots. Lousiville's Kendra Burawski made four of her total six saves after the half. After Katie Devaney (Fayetteville, N.Y.) scored to increase the Huskies advantage to 7-5 before Burawski robbed Michele's attempt on the right side.
The Cardinals ended their scoring drought with another goal from Dashiell at 10:48, cutting the lead to a single goal. With less than four and half minutes remaining in regulation, Liz Lovejoy tied it for Louisville. The unassisted mark knotted the game at seven goals apiece.
It was Michele's game-winning goal with 18 seconds on the clock that provided UConn with its second BIG EAST victory of the season and handed Louisville its second-straight loss of the season.
Anna Wallingford (Littleton, Colo.) moves to 2-7 in the cage this season after making eight saves against the Cardinals.
The Huskies hit the road for the next two conference games with a 4 p.m. game at Loyola (Md.) on April 3 and a 1 p.m. clash at Georgetown on April 5.
