Bloomington, Ill. – A compelling comeback by the Transylvania women's lacrosse team ran out of time as the Illinois Wesleyan Titans held on for a 10-9 victory over the Pioneers on Sunday afternoon at Tucci Stadium.
Courtney Pontious maintained her sterling scoring standard to begin the 2021 season with her fifth hat-trick in as many matches on Sunday, but her final goal and the ninth of the match for the Pioneers with five minutes to go in regulation was left in waiting as the Titans grasped a nailbiting home win.
Illinois Wesleyan improved to 4-1 on the season while the Pioneers dropped to 2-3 to round out their two-match trip to the Land of Lincoln over the weekend.
Sunday's battle was a back-and-forth affair that began with Transylvania accruing a 2-0 lead behind early goals from Lindy Walker and Ysa Leon. The Titans put their foot on the gas with five unanswered goals over a four-minute stretch to grab a 5-2 advantage with 19 minutes left in the first half. The Pioneers responded with three of the next four goals, slicing the Titan lead to 6-5 just 16 seconds into the second half.
Five different Pioneers scored in the first half for Transylvania with Pontious tallying the last goal of the opening period with a minute to go.
After Mandi Rider's second goal of the day kickstarted the second half for Transylvania, the Titans went on another run of three straight goals to take their largest lead of the day at 9-5 with 23 and a half minutes remaining. Pontious scored her second goal of the match on a feed from RJ Johnston with 16:38 left to cut Illinois Wesleyan's lead to 9-6, but the Titans scored 97 seconds later to boost their lead back to four goals at 10-6 with 15:01 left in the match.
The rest of the afternoon belonged to the Pioneers, who held Illinois Wesleyan scoreless for the final 15 minutes of action while manifesting their comeback.
Johnston ignited the rally with the seventh goal for Transy at the 13:37 mark. After much toil by the Pioneer offense, Salem Carlow found the back of the net with 9:51 to go, and Pontious formed the dramatic finish with her third goal of the day with 5:07 left in regulation.
Transylvania sought the tying goal but last-minute attempts from Johnston and Pontious were saved by the Titans' goalie, denying the Pioneers a four-goal comeback.
In addition to her match-high three goals, Pontious added a team-best five caused turnovers, three draw controls, and two ground balls. Carlow finished the match with two goals and Johnston added two points to go with two caused turnovers.
Transylvania is back in action on Friday, March 19 to visit the Depauw University Tigers in Greencastle, Indiana at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
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