Women's lax wins for seniors

For the first time since 2007 the Muhlenberg women's lacrosse team didn't have a chance to clinch a playoff berth in the regular season finale. But the Mules still had plenty to play for in their final contest of 2010.

Bascelli and the rest of the senior class ended their careers with 39 wins, the second-most by a class in program history.

"We all talked about what we wanted to do for our last game and we all agreed that we wanted to play for our seniors," said junior Christine Van Hise. "We wanted to go out and win for them."

Win they did, taking a tight game and breaking it open with a 7-0 run early in the second half to power past Washington, 21-14.

And even though the underclassmen went out playing for the seniors, the seniors had perhaps the biggest hand in the victory. With five goals and five assists, Amanda McGovern posted just the fourth double-digit point game in program history (she also had one earlier in the season). Alyssa Bascelli netted three goals and an assist, Danielle Scarrone had two goals and an assist, and Ashley Foltiny caused three turnovers on defense.

McGovern (above) and Rosen both ended the season with 69 points, the third highest single-season total in school history.

There were plenty of other noteworthy performances for a Mule team that had been held to just 15 goals over its previous three games coming in. Freshman Molly Davin scored a career-high four goals, and junior Danielle Rosen and Van Hise both recorded hat tricks, giving Muhlenberg (9-6, 4-5) five total in the game. Sophomore Maggie Sullivan added her second career goal.

"It was about leaving it all on the field," said Van Hise of the offensive outburst. "After everything we've been through this year, we didn't want to have any regrets. We wanted everyone to play with everything they had."

The Shorewomen (8-7, 3-6) appeared up to the task in the first half. They took a 4-2 lead 5:37 in, but the Mules rattled off eight of the next nine goals to double them up, 10-5. Washington scored the next four to cut it to one before a pair of devastating goals; Scarrone scored with 10 seconds left in the half, and Davin added another with one tick on the clock.

The Shorewomen scored the first goal of the second half to make it a two-goal game, 12-10, but after that it was all Muhlenberg. The Mules put the game away with a 7-0 run that spanned more than 14 minutes, ensuring they would send the seniors off the way they wanted to.

"We really pushed the ball and pushed it well," commented Van Hise. "It was back and forth for a while, but I think we broke them down and then pulled away. They weren't expecting it."

McGovern added a game-high seven draw controls to her huge scoring totals. Bascelli picked up a game-best four ground balls and caused three turnovers. Junior Allisyn Vachon made 12 saves in net.
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