Injuries, sickness plague Jackets in loss
The Waynesburg University women’s lacrosse team played Franciscan Monday night in the back half of a home-and-home two-game series in nonconference action. Just four days prior to the game, the Barons were victorious in the first meeting. The close-contested nature of the first game led to adjustments by both sides in the second meeting.
Despite these adjustments and seeing the Barons for the second time in less than a week, the match yielded a similar result for the Jackets as Waynesburg dropped the match by a score of 12-9.
Junior defense Abbie Miller noted the team wanted to play harder in the second billing against the Barons.
“Our goal as a team was to play as hard as we could,” said Miller. “We wanted to leave everything we had out on the field this time around.”
Junior defense Holly Bachman said the team was disadvantaged with the number of players it had and the fact that flu season was still taking its toll.
“Having such few girls hurt us and tonight was one of those games,” said Bachman. “We had a couple of girls sick and a few injured, but I’m still proud the way everyone gave their all despite not being able to sub a lot.”
Waynesburg jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead with the goals coming courtesy of juniors Jess Rains and Holly Bachman. The lead did not hold up, as the Barons went on a 3-0 run over the next four minutes of play, taking a 4-3 lead on a goal from freshman attack Carly McDonald off an assist from senior attack Tracy McClelland. Each team then scored two more goals to end the half as Franciscan maintained a one-goal lead.
The Barons scored the first goal of the second half to set the pace for the remaining minutes of the match the Yellow Jackets tied the game up at 7-7 five minutes into the second half with two more Bachman markers. Ten minutes later, Baron’s sophomore Mary Krolicki scored her third goal of the game to give the Lady Barons a lead that they never relinquished.
Waynesburg led the Barons in multiple offensive and defensive categories like ground balls and clears but were outshot and still failed to find enough scoring to win their first game of the year. A continuous bright spot for the Jackets was Holly Bachman, who for her third straight game had a five-plus goal effort.
Bachman is on pace to break her scoring numbers from last year, but it’s not high on her list of priorities of the season.
“It’s definitely on my mind because I’m personally hard on myself,” said Bachman. “Breaking my record would be awesome and something I would love to do but it will happen when it happens.”
Waynesburg will have some time to practice and sharpen its skills as it has a small break before returning to action. The next game for the Jackets will be on Friday, April 8 as they take on Hanover College. Start time is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.