SWARTHMORE, Pa.—Swarthmore College Women's Lacrosse drew first blood, and did so quickly, in Wednesday night's home Centennial Conference game against the Muhlenberg College Mules. The Garnet hung with the Mules, a team that had been ranked as high as 20th nationally this season, but ended up on the losing end of the 13-7 game. Two Muhlenberg bursts of four goals proved to decide the contest.
Tess Wild, who netted the game's opening goal 36 seconds in on an off-speed shot, led the Garnet with three goals. Wild also had an assist for the four-point night, and tied for the team high in draw controls with three. Wild now has 102 draw controls in her young career.
Freshman Sydnie Schwarz also recorded four points, tallying three assists and a goal.
Elizabeth Wainwright added a pair of goals and freshman Tessa Hannigan scored a goal as well.
Swarthmore won the battle of the draw control 12-10. In addition to Wild's three wins, Briana Narzikul added three, Andie Battin and Hannigan each had two and Emily Sokol and Sadie Camilliere had one.
Swarthmore recorded six caused turnovers and 14 ground balls. Sophie Peipher had a team-high five ground balls.
Betsy Cohen recorded eight saves between the posts for the Garnet for the second straight game.
After scoring the opening goal, Swarthmore conceded a trio of goals to the Mules before scoring again with 19:45 to play in the first half. After a Muhlenberg goal, Swarthmore responded with Wild's second of the game to bring Swarthmore within one again. Muhlenberg, however, soon churned out four goals in just over two minutes to break the game open. The Garnet bounced back with a pair of goals and finished the half down 9-5.
Wild completed her hat trick with 24:47 to play in the game, bringing Swarthmore within three goals (9-6). Unfortunately for the Garnet, they wouldn't score again until there were just five seconds left in the game. Muhlenberg scored again with 21 minutes left, but the Garnet defense did keep them off the board for the next 16 minutes.
Swarthmore (7-6, 1-5 Centennial) hosts McDaniel College at noon on Saturday. The Garnet will honor senior Briana Narzikul prior to the game.
