Women’s lacrosse team beats Davenport, 12-10, for first win in school history

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Freshman Alyssa Meny (Marshall) and senior Veronica Maidens (Arcadia/ Onekama) combined for 10 goals to lead the Olivet College women's lacrosse team to a 12-10 win today at Davenport University. It marked the first lacrosse victory in school history.

Olivet got on the scoreboard first after Meny scored a free-position goal just 1 minute, 44 seconds into the game. The Panthers tied the game with their own free-position goal.

There was no scoring for more than six minutes until Davenport took a 2-1 lead with a free-position goal. The Comets scored four unanswered goals – two by Maidens, one each by Meny and junior Cortney Wernette (Remus/Chippewa Hills) – to take a 5-2 lead. The Panthers countered the Olivet scoring run with two of their own goals to trail by one point, 5-4, at halftime.

Meny found the back of the net with a pair of goals in the first seven minutes of the second half. Maidens scored her third tally of the game with a free-position goal with 21:50 left in the game. The Panthers quickly responded with a goal.

After sophomore Ellen Malin (Burton/Bendle) put Olivet back ahead by four, 9-5, Davenport scored three straight goals to cut its deficit down to one, 9-8. Meny ended the Panther run with her fifth and sixth goals of the game to make the score 11-8 with 5:46 left. Davenport got as close as one, 11-10, with 32 seconds remaining before Maidens sealed Olivet's win by scoring her final goal with 12 seconds left.

The stats were almost identical for both teams. Davenport had a slight advantage 26-25 in shots, including 23-20 in shots-on-goal. Maidens led the Comets with nine shots, followed closely by Meny with eight. Freshman Sara Wegener (Lansing/Lansing Catholic) played the entire game in goal and made 13 saves.

Olivet will play two home games next week, beginning Monday afternoon when Indiana Tech visits the Cutler Athletic Complex for a 5 p.m. contest.