Rachael Goetz '20 guided the women's lacrosse team to its first conference victory of the season on Saturday afternoon at Campus Field, as the Soaring Eagles sunk the Saxons of Alfred University, 14-4. The first-year attacker had the finest outing of her debut season with a game- and season-high six goals, to go along with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
The Lake View, New York, native began the scoring by tallying two goals in the game's first five minutes, both times beating Alfred goalie Shannon Gray to the upper right corner. Goetz completed her third career hat trick before halftime, as she picked the same corner after slicing through a handful of defenders inside the arc. In the second half, Goetz gave EC an 8-2 advantage with a free-position goal at the 26:14 mark, before finishing with two of the team's final three goals in the waning minutes of regulation. She made the Saxons pay for a costly turnover in their own zone for her fifth goal, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Kyra McDonald '18 and Louisa Lippiatt Durnell '18 after an interception. Lippiatt Durnell assisted on Goetz's sixth and final score, feeding the freshman with a precision pass through traffic inside the arc.
Goetz's six goals are tied for the most scored by a Soaring Eagle in a game this season and she paces the Purple and Gold with 17. Her six tallies against the Saxons are the most by a freshman in a single game since the program's all-time leading scorer, Moorea Spoljaric '16, matched the feat against Hartwick on April 7, 2013.
The Elmira women return to action next Wednesday, April 19, when they travel to Hoboken, New Jersey, to face Stevens Institute of Technology at 3:00 p.m.
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