TACOMA, Wash. –Lewis & Clark College women's lacrosse secured their first win in program history, defeating future Northwest Conference opponent, the University of Puget Sound, 14-13 on Wednesday night to end their inaugural varsity season on a high note.
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 14, Puget Sound 13
(Lewis & Clark 1-12)
(Puget Sound 3-9)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Freshman Kate Meinhard tied the program record and scored a career-high six goals, recording a double hat trick to lead the Pioneers offense. She scored the first hat trick in the first quarter of the game.  
 
Sage Swegle and Lauren Elliott also scored multiple goals for Lewis & Clark, with five and two goals, respectively, while Rowan Levandoski scored the final go-ahead goal of the game. All three freshmen finished with an assist.
 
Aster Daellenbach earned their first start in net for the Pioneers, and not only did they play the full 60 for the first time, but the first-year keeper recorded a career-high seven saves while facing 27 shots.
 
After the win, Lewis & Clark first-year head coach Lindsay Newman said, "Every single person had an impact on both sides of the ball. Especially Aster in the goal, who hasn't started for us until this game."
 
Meinhard scored the first goal just over three minutes into the game, putting the Pioneers up 1-0. The Loggers responded less than 20 seconds later when Cat Schilling made a free position shot to tie the score. For the remainder of the first quarter, it was all Lewis & Clark as Meinhard started a 4-0 run with a free position goal at 10:20.
 
Elliott capped it off with a caused turnover and ground ball at midfield that she ran back with less than 10 seconds in the quarter to score a goal with one tick on the game clock. The Pioneers held a 5-1 advantage, tying their largest lead of the season from their opening game against Hamline University.  
 
Puget Sound made a change at goalie after the first quarter and quickly cut the lead in half to start the second quarter with two quick goals in less than four minutes. Swegle recorded her second goal of the game, scoring on a free position shot at 7:15 to extend the lead to 6-3. The Loggers kept the pressure on and scored again just over 75 seconds later to pull back within two goals. Meinhard scored goal number four of the night at 5:18 to extend the lead back out to three and made it 7-4.
 
Elliott had a goal called off at 4:36 for an illegal stick, and Puget Sound capitalized on the opportunity when Pier Pomeroy found Maggie Ott with 4:20 on the clock to make it 7-5 and it would remain that way until halftime.
 
The Pioneers struck first after the break, as Swegle scored with four minutes off the clock to extend the lead to three goals. The Loggers responded with just under eight minutes remaining in the quarter, scoring two back-to-back goals to pull within a point, 8-7, for the first time since the opening quarter.
 
Elliott scored her second goal of the game with 6:57 remaining to extend Lewis & Clark's lead back to two goals. Puget Sound closed out the quarter with two goals of their own to tie the game at 9-all, and evening the score for the first time since 1-1.
 
The Loggers scored at 13:16 in the fourth quarter to take the lead for the first time in the game at 10-9. Swegle and Meinhard put the Pioneers back on top, scoring the next two goals at 12:43 and 9:00. Puget Sound tied the score again at 6:29 at 11-all, but 16 seconds later, Elliott found Swegle in the arc to retake the lead.
 
After Schilling tied the score again at 12, Levandoski received a pass from Swegle and found the back of the net to put the Pioneers in the lead for good. Meinhard scored the final goal for Lewis & Clark at 3:42 on a free position shot to make it 14-12. Puget Sound scored one final goal at 1:38 to make it 14-13, but the Pioneers were able to hold the ball and secure their first win in program history.
 
"Despite our record, we've had a lot of wins along the way this season as we played man down for all of our games, and this win was just validation for such a gritty group. There have been a few games along this season I knew we could win, so this just feels that much better that we could put it all together and win together," added Newman. "I'm immensely proud of every single person, all thirteen."
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Who says 13 is unlucky? The first 13 women's lacrosse players in program history won their first game in program history in their 13^th game of the season and allowed 13 goals.
• The Pioneers held a 16-14 edge in draw controls. Elliott led the team with five draw controls, while freshman Finley Allen and Meinhard had four, and Swegle added three.
• Meinhard led the team with nine shots in the game and Swegle (eight), Elliott (three), Levandoski (three), Allen (one), and freshman Alexandra Vargas-Buell (one) added to the shot total.
• Sophomore Delaney Jones and freshman Gloria Meehan each had a ground ball against the Loggers and Meehan added a caused turnover.

WHO'S NEXT

Lewis & Clark plans to return all 13 players from this year's team including junior Lilly Sullivan and freshmen Kate Corsaro and Zoey Hamel-Hyland for their first official season competing in the Northwest Conference in 2025.