The San Diego State Aztec lacrosse team (3-4) secured their first home win of the season against the Marquette Golden Eagles (4-5) 18-12 on Tuesday, March 15.
Junior Camdyn O’Donnell got the scoring started for the Aztecs in the first 17 seconds of the match.
A minute later, senior Cailin Young fed senior Courtney Robinson for her first goal of the season.
After another O’Donnell goal, the Golden Eagles would go on a 4-0 run to take a 4-3 lead.
The Scarlet and Black ended Marquette’s run with O’Donnell putting in three straight goals during a 6-0 run, but the momentum was broken when the Golden Eagles scored three straight goals of their own.
Young would put in two low-angle goals to close out the second half for an 11-8 lead.
The Scarlet and Black picked up from where they left off with sophomore Brook Waddell and senior Bailey Brown scoring goals to increase the lead to 14-8.
Marquette senior Lydia Foust and graduate Kyra Lamotte would get the Golden Eagles to double digits in the late minutes of the third as the Aztecs led 15-10.
Senior Deanna Balsama — who never got any good looks in the first three quarters — started the fourth quarter with two wicked wrist shot goals to increase her goal total to 36 this season.
The Golden Eagles started to see a brick wall in junior Sam Horan and would only get two more goals as the Scarlet and Black secured their first home win of the season 18-12.
The defensive star for the Aztecs was sophomore Katie Wozencroft as she held off senior Shea Garcia — the leading scorer for the Golden Eagles — to one assist in the game.
Head coach Kylee White praised Wozencroft’s performance after the game.
“She’s really worked hard on her stick work and vocal presence,” White said. “I had her face guarding Princeton’s top player last week, and I think that gave her a lot of confidence.”
Robinson had her first four points (two goals and two assists) this season and White was impressed with how she continues to get better.
“She was on fire today,” White said. “She played tough defense and just showed her speed in the midfield and I don’t know what she ate for lunch but I’m gonna buy it for her again.”
O’Donnell got a career-high of seven goals in the game and 20 goals on the season.
O’Donnell talked about the confidence the team got from the Princeton loss to secure a win against Marquette.
“It was awesome,” O’Donnell said. “Especially competing with Princeton so well and having a huge crowd. Then to come out here on our second home game and come out with a big win versus Marquette as a team win.”
Seven different players scored for the Aztecs so O’Donnell said she couldn’t take all the credit.
“Everyone had to step up,” O’Donnell said. “They decided to face guard Deanna so we were looking for different looks on offense.”
A negative coming out of the win was the 41 fouls. There were three yellow cards and green cards called on the Aztecs.
White said the team still needs to work on their foul trouble.
“We got to limit the fouls, we are doubling people in that stat line,” White said. “It changes momentum and some things we can control, some things we can’t but I think we can at least take 10 to 15 fouls off the board.”
The Aztecs are averaging 29 fouls per game and are ranked 114th in NCAA College Women’s Lacrosse D1.
White also said the team needs to improve on its offensive communication.
“We need to take advantage of the opportunities that we have on offense,” White said. “We didn’t maybe control the tempo and get the great looks that we wanted.”
It was the first time in four years that the Aztecs put up 18 or more goals in three straight games.
The Scarlet and Black’s next game will be against the Drexel Dragons (4-3) — who are receiving votes in the latest national polls — on Wednesday, March 23, at the SDSU Lacrosse Field.
