At the start of the second half of Saturday's match against Bucknell at Reeves Field, the AU Women's Lacrosse team seemed dangerously close to repeating the same mistakes that had mired it in a three-game slide.
The Bison, who trailed by four at the break, scored three goals in the first five minutes. Then, the AU defense collapsed not once, but twice, leaving junior goalkeeper Kathleen Finnegan all alone to face odd-man rushes.
But Finnegan deflected both those clear charges, and her team then scored seven of the next nine goals to secure a 14-8 win.
Confidence seemed the key for AU (6-9, 4-2 PL), which on this Senior Day clinched the third seed for this weekend's Patriot League championship. Though the Eagles had given up quick goals at the worst times during their losing streak, senior Rebecca Copeland said they wouldn't let themselves become fazed by the second-half surprise by the Bison (4-12, 2-6).
"There was never any doubt in my mind that we would lose this game," Copeland said.
The game lifted not only the team out of a slump, but Copeland too. AU's No. 2 scorer had only two goals in the last three games, but Saturday she stormed back to find the net five times.
Her offensive leadership was needed on a silent afternoon for leading scorer junior Moriah Linnell. But the rest of the team helped Copeland fill that void, as seven players registered a goal or an assist.
In her first career start, freshman Jackie Lane netted two goals and an assist, while her sister, freshman Lauren Lane, came off the bench for a pair of goals.
"It's all because of my teammates," Copeland said. "I have to give them credit. The offense worked and did what it's supposed to do."
AU had depended on Linnell to drive to the goal in its recent downturn, but the team's passing came together Saturday. Six of the Eagles' goals were assisted, compared with only two in the last three games.
Sophomore Sara Milewski catalyzed several of those plays to notch a game-high three assists along with three goals, the last of which sparked AU's second-half rebound.
That AU controlled much of the game is no surprise, since it won15 draw controls to Bucknell's nine.
Junior Laura Barnes scrambled for seven ground balls, her season high, as the Eagles came up with 20 overall.
AU had already clinched a spot in the PL tournament, which begins Saturday at Colgate, but the win sealed a first-round match against Holy Cross (9-8, 4-2 PL). The Eagles began their losing streak in a 12-9 defeat in Worcester, Mass., on April 9. But Copeland, still enjoying the confidence-boosting win over the Bison, said the outcome this time will be different.
"They don't even know what's coming to them," she said. "We're psyched"
