ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop lacrosse team earned a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory Saturday afternoon 10-8 over the Longwood Lancers to remain unbeaten in the Big South.
The Eagles improved to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in the Big South with the victory while Longwood fell to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference with the loss.
Winthrop fell behind 4-0 to start the game, going 21:18 without netting a goal, the longest stretch to start a game in program history. Logan McCarthy broke the Eagles slump with an unassisted tally with 8:42 on the clock. Only 22 seconds later, Shannon Gallagher netted a goal on an assist from Kristen Shriver.
Shriver assisted on another tally with 1:32 on the clock, feeding the ball to Alexis Linhardt to pull the Eagles within 4-3. Longwood pushed its lead back to two with 29 seconds on the clock. Winthrop responded quickly, only nine seconds later as Katie Clark scored an unassisted goal to move the score to 5-4 where it stayed going into halftime.
Winthrop grabbed the first two goals of the second half, one from Clark and one from Danielle Ellis as the Eagles took their first lead of the game at 6-5 with 18:51 remaining. The Lancers then scored the next two, regaining a 7-6 lead with 12:06 on the clock.
With just over 10 minutes remaining Shannon Gallagher tied the contest at 7-7 with an unassisted tally. Clark scored her third of the game with 7:32 remaining to give Winthrop another one-goal edge at 8-7. Longwood responded less than two minutes later to tie the game at 8-8.
The Eagles didn't hesitate in responding as with 4:52 remaining, Krista Frowein found a cutting Logan McCarthy who buried the eventual game-winning goal. With 4:36 on the clock, Longwood earned a free-position attempt but Alaina Girani came up with a big save to preserve the one-goal lead. Alexis Linhardt scored an unassisted goal with 3:28 remaining to give the Eagles a little breathing room. Winthrop was able to control the ball over the final two minutes to seal the victory.
Clark led the Eagles with three goals on five shots while McCarthy, Gallagher and Alexis Linhardt each tallied two goals. Gallagher led the Eagles with four ground balls and six caused turnovers while Katherine Judge grabbed five draw controls. Girani finished the game allowing eight goals and making seven saves.
Winthrop limited Longwood to only seven shots in the second half and outshot the Lancers 26-17. Longwood won the draw-control battle 10-9, but the Eagles bested the Lancers 19-12 in ground ball pickups.
The Eagles will next hit the road for a mid-week contest at Gardner-Webb on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
