ANDERSON, S.C. – History was made for the Anderson University (12-2, 7-1 SAC) women's lacrosse team on Saturday, April 6 as they were able to knock off the first nationally-ranked opponent in program history, dealing a 16-15 decision to No. 16 Wingate (11-4, 8-1 SAC) at Spero Financial Field.
Freshman Ava Skeffington (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore Sophia Santagata (North Port, Fla.) were a huge part of the success for the Trojans on the day as they combined for 10 goals on the afternoon, with six coming from Skeffington and the other four from the crosse of Santagata. Santagata pitched in a trio of assists in the contest as well to lead the team with seven points while senior Kelly Coster (Poughquag, N.Y.) added two assists and sophomore Alicia Cannon (Tarzana, Calif.) added one as well.
Sophomore goalie Ava Drath (Hudsonville, Mich.) was solid between the pipes for the Trojans, making seven saves in the contest to pick up her 11th win of the season. Sophomore Katy Snyder (Moore, S.C.) helped lead a stout defense with three caused turnovers while freshman Kathryn McCabe (Alpharetta, Ga.) rounded up eight draw controls.
After Wingate scored the opening goal of the contest just 21 seconds into the action, the two teams traded a pair of goals each over the next eight minutes of play with the Bulldogs holding the slight 3-2 advantage with 6:39 to play in the first. Anderson rattled off three straight goals over the next three minutes to swing the lead into their favor, a lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the contest, taking the 6-4 lead out of the first.
The Trojans were able to outscore the Bulldogs by a slight 4-3 advantage in each of the next two periods, with a pair of those goals in the second quarter coming from Santagata while a pair in the third period were tallied by Skeffington, her last of the third putting the Black and Gold up 14-10.
The final quarter saw Wingate mount a massive comeback attempt and they were able to outscore the Trojans by a 5-2 margin, but with the two goals from Skeffington and freshman Rayne Dobson (Houston, Texas), Anderson was able to stop them short of completing the comeback, taking the 16-15 win.
Anderson now turns their focus to their final two games of the season, both conference matchups as the Trojans travel Mars Hill on April 13 before coming back home to play Newberry on April 17 in the regular season finale.
