DAVENPORT, Iowa — Midland University’s women lacrosse team traveled to face St. Ambrose University in the opening round of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Women’s Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors were the 7th-seed in the eight-team conference tournament and St. Ambrose entered the tournament as the 2nd-seed with just one loss on the season thus far. The Warriors competed but were outmatched by the Fighting Bees, falling 23-5. The loss marks the final game of the 2021 season for the Warriors, finishing 5-8 overall and 4-6 in conference play.
St. Ambrose made their mark early on scoring just 47 seconds into the game and then scoring again almost 30 seconds later. Two more goals pushed their lead to 4-0 nine minutes into the game.
The Warriors responded with their first score of the game when junior Riley Yanek scored on an unassisted strike at the 20:10 mark of the period.
The score didn’t faze the Fighting Bees as they followed with three scores of their own to take a 7-1 lead at the 17:50 mark.
With 17:28 to go, senior Hannah Scheivert earned her fourth goal of the season when she fired a well-placed shot into the net after a timely pass from sophomore Jaiden Guy.
Later in the period, trailing 10-2, the Warriors began to make up ground with back-to-back goals. First Yanek put in another unassisted goal, then senior Masey Jay also scored on a solo effort and the Warriors cut the lead to 6, with 12:35 left in the period.
Penalties would then haunt the Warriors as St. Ambrose scored five goals, three of the five on power-play opportunities, to take a 15-4 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, the Warriors struggled on both ends but did earn one last goal when Yanek set up Jay for her second score of the contest and her 18th goal of the season.
Overall, the Warriors finished the year with two players among the best in the conference in scoring statistics. Freshman Alexis Nelson finished the season with a team-high 20 assists, which ranked sixth in the KCAC.
Riley Yanek finished with a team-high 40 goals, which ranked fifth-best in the KCAC. Yanek also finished fifth in total points (52), first in the conference in total shots (96), and second in total shots on goal (72).
Head Coach Malia Shimabukuro was proud of her ladies and their efforts this season, “Today was definitely not how we wanted to end our season. The girls gave forth great effort it unfortunately wasn’t consistent and persistent like we needed. There is so much we got to celebrate throughout this season. As we look back from where we were and look forward to where we are headed it is very exciting! The commitment and character our girls have will continue to drive the program’s growth. We are building a foundation within this program that will become stronger and stronger with time.” said coach.
The Warriors will look to continue to grow and improve in the offseason as they work to come back stronger for their 2022 campaign.
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