SWARTHMORE, Pa.—Led by a gutsy six-goal performance from junior Sophie Peipher, Swarthmore College Women's Lacrosse topped the Muhlenberg College Mules 16-9 on Wednesday night.
The contest was a virtual must-win for the Garnet who entered the game tied for fifth in the conference with the Mules with matching 2-3 Centennial Conference records. With the win, the Garnet are now alone in fifth place with three games to go. If the Garnet can win two of those three games, they will guarantee themselves one of the five playoff spots in the league tournament.
Things did not look good for the Garnet right away on Wednesday and the team trailed 3-0 in the first four minutes. Muhlenberg's Amanda Tullo, who is second in the league in scoring with 42 goals, scored all three of the first goals and finished with a team-high five goals.
The Garnet took a timeout, made some adjustments and went on a tear. Swarthmore exploded for eight consecutive goals over a 16-minute span in the first half.
The Mules kicked back with three goals to close out the first half, keeping things interesting.
Swarthmore, who had already scored two player-up goals in the first half, scored two more player-up goals in the second half. The Garnet took advantage of all four Muhlenberg yellow cards in the extremely physical contest, scoring on all four power-play chances.
With six minutes to go in the contest, Peipher was knocked down with a foul and was slow to get up. With her teammates helping her battle leg cramps with some stretches, Peipher stood and set up for the resulting free-position shot. She nailed the goal for her sixth of the game and then hobbled off the field.
In addition to Peipher's six goals, Mackenzie Frost recorded four goals, Elizabeth Wainwright netted three, and Tess Wild, Julia Ostrowski and Kathryn Restrepo all scored one as well.
Swarthmore scored seven goals on 10 free-position attempts.
Betsy Cohen stood firm in goal, recording 10 saves in the win.
Swarthmore returns to action on Saturday for a 3 p.m. home game against McDaniel.
