SAN DIEGO, CA – The Winthrop lacrosse team dropped its first game in more than a month Wednesday evening, falling 17-7 on the road to the San Diego State Aztecs.
The loss dropped the Eagles record to 7-2 on the season and snapped a six-game winning streak for Winthrop. San Diego State improved to 6-2 with the victory, extending its current win streak to six contests.
The Aztecs got on the board first with a goal 5:24 into the half, but the Eagles came back strong scoring the next three. Freshman Katie Clark scored the first Eagle goal at 20:49 followed only 35 seconds later on a tally from fellow freshman Kristen Shriver.
Junior Abigail Blevins put the Eagles up 3-1 with 16:58 to play, but that was the last goal Winthrop scored in the first half. San Diego State scored three straight and then went into the half on a positive note scoring its fourth in a row with only 12 seconds left to take a 5-3 lead into the break.
The Eagles had a positive start to the second half as junior Danielle Ellis converted a free-position attempt on 1:35 into the half to pull Winthrop within 5-4. The Aztecs then went on another big run, scoring four straight goals to go up 9-4 with 20:52 on the clock.
Shriver scored her second goal of the game with 20:04 left in the contest to put a brief half to the Aztec run. San Diego State responded less than a minute later with a tally that started a stretch of six straight goals, giving the Aztecs their largest lead of the game at 15-5 with 4:36 remaining.
Abigail Blevins added two more goals for the Eagles in the final 90 seconds, both on free-position attempts which surrounded two more Aztec goals to reach the 17-7 final score.
Blevins finished with three goals on four shots while Shriver scored two. Ellis and Clark each added a goal each. Katherine Judge finished with four ground balls and four draw controls while freshman goalie Alaina Girani totaled eight saves.
Winthrop was outshot 30-16 in the contest with 13 of its shots going on goal. The Eagles fell in the draw-control battle 17-9 and also had only seven ground balls to the Aztecs' 11.
The Eagles will have an eight-day break before their next road contest against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday, March 27.
