FREMONT, Neb. – Midland University’s women’s lacrosse team took the field for the first time since the 2019 season on Saturday at Heedum Field. The Warriors came away with a 15-8 against the University of St. Mary (USM) Spires to open the 2021 season.
The Spires struck first to start the game but Midland was able to counter with a quick goal of their own to get on the scoreboard. A goal from Riley Yanek off an assist from Masey Jay tied the game at 1-1 with just 2:41 of game time.
The teams would trade goals against as USM took a 2-1 lead. Yanek would respond with her second goal of the game and caught fire for the Warriors as she scored the next three goals. With 19:43 left in the half, Jaiden Guy became the second Warrior to score as she put Midland up 6-2. Melissa Niles added another with 9:05 to play to make it 7-2 before a late Spire goal closed the first-half scoring.
In the second half, USM was able to get the first three goals of the period, narrowing their deficit. After a goal by the Warriors’ Guy, USM collected a pair of power-play goals to knot the game 8-8 with 16:26 remaining.
Midland would go their largest scoring run of the afternoon, scoring the last seven goals of the game, to earn their first win since April 15, 2018. Scoring came from Scheivert, Jay, Yanek, and Dominique Hernandez during the game-clinching stretch.
Yanek ended the game with a team-high eight goals and three assists. Jay and Guy both had two goals while one goal was scored by Niles, Hernandez, and Hannah Scheivert. Alexis Nelson had three assists as well.
The Warriors outshot the Spires 37-23 and Kayla Colacion picked up her first collegiate win. She had five saves in net.
“What a historic day it was for our women’s lacrosse program, and I could not be more proud of these women,” said head coach Malia Shimabukuro. “It had been 676 days since our women’s lacrosse team stepped foot on Heedum field to compete. Today, we came out together as a team and made our mark. It was a team win in which our ladies truly played together. There were so many beautiful moments when it came to our movement on the attack…as well as our intensity and pressure on defense. We are excited and will look to keep this momentum heading into our games next weekend in Texas.”
Midland (1-0, 1-0 KCAC) will have a week to prepare before they travel to Texas for a pair of games. Their first game is scheduled for Friday, March 5 against Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas at 7:00 p.m. Saturday’s game will be against the University of Dallas in Dallas, Texas at 11:00 a.m.
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