Lady Raider Lacrosse Nearly Upsets No. 3 West Chester in PSAC Semifinals
May 2, 2006
WEST CHESTER , Pa. -
In making its second Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Women's Lacrosse
Championship appearance in the last three seasons, Shippensburg nearly
upset No. 3-ranked West Chester before losing in the semifinals on Tuesday,
15-13. With the win, the Golden Rams advance to their 19th conference championship
game in school history.
The Lady Raiders (8-8), who were outscored 46-20 in suffering two losses to West
Chester in the regular-season, led 5-1 with 13:25 remaining in the first half.
The Golden Rams scored back-to-back goals to cut the lead to two before senior Kim
Hudicka (Media, Pa./Penncrest) and junior Jessica Gonzalez (Swarthmore,
Pa./Ridley)scored less than three minutes apart to give Shippensburg a 7-3 lead at halftime.
Gonzalez's goal came with just five seconds remaining in the half.
However, West Chester (16-2) scored twice as many goals as the Lady Raiders in
the second half, 12-6, to pull out the two-goal victory.
Hudicka netted the fourth of her five goals in the game to put Shippensburg back
in front, 11-10 with 13:36 left. The Golden Rams then scored five of the next
six goals, including two each from Stephanie Kienle and Christine Kane, to edge
out to a 15-12 lead with just under three minutes remaining.
Katelyn Martin, who finished the game with six goals, added the fifth goal during
the run and now has 78 for the season. She also has 103 points. Martin, Kienle
(4) and Kane (3) combined 13 of the team's 15 goals. On the year, the "big
three" for West Chester have combined to score 207 goals, exactly two-thirds
of the team's total.
With her five goals, Hudicka finished her final collegiate season with 56, the
most goals scored by a Shippensburg player since Cameron Colbert scored 69 in
1999. She concludes her career with 101 goals, becoming the 10th player in school
history to reach 100.
Senior Cristin Marron (Exton, Pa./Villa Maria Academy), who netted two goals
in today's game, finishes her final season with a career-high 41 goals, giving
her 112 for her career. While Hudicka finishes ninth on the school's career list,
Marron finishes seventh.
Sophomores Brita Paul (Salisbury, Md./James Bennett) and Kelly
Smith (Crownsville,
Md./Old Mill) also had two goals apiece this afternoon.
In goal, senior Michelle Mangle (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Hubert Catholic) made
six saves in her final game while senior Lauren Wells (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford)added one assist, concluding her best offensive season as a Lady Raiders with
15 goals, seven assists and 22 points, all career-highs.
Tuesday's loss concludes a remarkable turnaround for Shippensburg this season
after the team totaled just one win in 2005. In addition to Hudicka's 56 goals
and Marron's 46, junior Kristin Crutchfield (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) finished
the year with 38 goals, marking the first time since 1999 that the team had three
players with at least 30 goals each.
This year's All-PSAC women's lacrosse teams is expected to be announced by the
conference office next week.
- Lady Raider Lacrosse -
