BRIDGEWATER, Va. — The Bridgewater College women’s lacrosse team dropped a 15-12 contest to Hood in its season opener at the Jopson Athletic Complex on Wednesday night.

Final Score: Hood 15, Bridgewater 12
Records: Bridgewater 0-1; Hood 1-1

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Bridgewater found the twine first as Kaity Petersheim scored, unassisted, just over a minute into the game but a quick response from the Blazers tied it up off the stick of Mackenzie Demaio with 12:42 to go in the first quarter.

• Demaio notched her second of the game on a man-up goal with 9:37 on the clock, followed by a Mackenzi Wright strike two minutes later to give the visitors a 3-1 edge. Madeline Magill scored her first off the season after Aunnie Hacker found her to cut the lead to just one goal, but Hood battled back with a goal from Julia Gregory under 40 seconds later to double the lead to 4-2.

• The Eagles fired back in a big way with a pair of goals from Petersheim with the second one off a feed from Hacker to give Petersheim a hat trick and to tie the game at 4-4- as the first period came to a close. Following the quarter break, Lauren Roberts scored on a free-position shot to give BC a 5-4 lead with 12:31 left in the half.

• Liz Connelly tied the game back up at 5-5 three minutes later before Annika Benson and Magill connected for a goal with 5:23 left in the half to give the Eagles a 6-5 edge. Roberts doubled the lead on a free-position goal two minutes later, but Gregory scored again with under 30 seconds left in the half to set the score at 7-6 in favor of Bridgewater after 30 minutes.

• The back-and-forth contest continued in the third as Kayla Russell tied the game once again with 12:44 on the clock. Petersheim picked up her fourth goal of the game and Ashley Venit followed with another score to put the Crimson & Gold up 9-7 with under 11 minutes to go in the period.

• Demaio took advantage of a yellow card called on the Eagles and scored to cut the lead down to one BC goal, but Caris Cianelli netted her first of the season to double the advantage back to two at 10-8. Once again with the clock ticking under 30 seconds in the quarter, the Blazers struck to set the score at 10-9 going into the final quarter break.

• The fourth quarter was the difference maker as Hood stretched together three-straight goals to start the fourth period, including two goals following a Bridgewater yellow card, to take a 12-10 lead with 10:52 left. Roberts and Magill each got a goal to tie the game back up at 12-12, but another three-goal run by the visitors in the final five minutes was the decider as the Blazers walked off with a 15-12 win.

MATCH STATS
• Petersheim led the Eagles with four goals, while Roberts finished with four points on three goals and an assist. Roberts also grabbed eight draws, while Petersheim snagged seven of her own.

• Magill chipped in three points off two goals and a helper, while Benson, Cianelli and Venit all registered goals in the loss. Venit and Roberts each led the way with three ground balls

• For Hood, Demaio led the game with five goals, while Stanley finished with three of her own. Connelly pitched in two goals, an assist, three ground balls and five draw controls, while Demaio added five ground balls, three caused TOs and three draws to her stat line.

• Rachael Robinson stopped seven shots in the loss, while Brooke Harper made six saves in all 60 minutes for the Blazers.

UP NEXT
Bridgewater heads south over Spring Break and starts off with a nonconference tilt with Guilford on Saturday, Feb. 25. The game is slated for a 3 pm start.

— BC Athletics —