University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
10-5,3-2
Butler University
5-9, 1-4
Huskies Clinch BIG EAST Tournament Spot with Win Over Butler
4/22/2023 2:45:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The UConn Women's lacrosse team took home a conference win against Butler University on Saturday afternoon in a game that clinched their spot in the BIG EAST conference tournament in Storrs, CT in early May. This was their highest scoring game of the season at 22 goals.
Th Huskies opened play with two goals in a row from senior, Kate Shaffer, at 13:09 and 11:38. Butler answered that with a goal from Kaley Attaway at 10:07. Grad student, Lia LaPrise, then capitalized on a free position shot at 8:00 to extend UConn's lead back to two goals. From there, the Bulldogs would go on a scoring run, notching three more goals to end the quarter ahead of the Huskies by one.
UConn came out strong, once again, to start the second quarter with another goal from Shaffer at 13:43 and goal from Grace Coon at 12:51 to put the Huskies back on top over the Bulldogs. Luci Selander, with her second goal of the day, tied it back up for Butler. Coon notched herself a second goal at 12:04, with Shaffer scoring just a minute after to give the Huskies a two-goal lead. Kate Kaptrosky for the Bulldogs cut the lead to one at 8:17, before UConn would go on a scoring run with LaPrise notching her second of the day and Sophie Sorenson putting two in a row into the back of the net. The Bulldogs scored just one more in the first half, as LaPrise ended the quarter completing a hat trick for the Huskies.
The Bulldogs came out fighting in the second half, with a goal in the first two minutes from Attaway. Shaffer would score again, capitalizing on a free position shot. The Buldogs scored just once more in the third quarter before the Huskies shut them down, starting with a goal at 7:54 from Coon. Susan Lafountain scored her only goal of the game at 6:01 and was followed up by Shaffer with her sixth and final goal of the day at 5:11. The Huskies ended the third quarter with four goals in a row from Rayea Davis, forcing a running clock.
Butler started the final quarter of the game with a goal to stop the clock from running. Coon notched her final goal of the game at 13:20, giving her four goals on the day. The Bulldogs scored again before Davis put her final goal in the back of net, ending with five goals. Butler would score twice more in their attempt to cut the large UConn lead. Senior defender, Amanda McMahon, would have the final say of the game, scoring her first career goal in the last minute of play.
Senior, Madelyn George had a career-high 12 draw controls in today's win over Butler. Julia Ozimek caused three turnovers with four ground balls in her standout defensive performance. Georgia Hoey made four saves, caused one turnover, and had three ground balls.
The Huskies will return home for their final regular season game of the year vs Xavier on Saturday, April 29th at 11:30am. UConn will honor their nine seniors in their final home game in a ceremony that begins at 11:15am.
