Women's Lacrosse Falls in Season Opener

(Livonia, MI): The Cleary University Women's lacrosse team opened up their regular season and WHAC competition as they made the short drive to Livonia to take on the Madonna University Crusaders Wednesday afternoon.

Madonna would strike first on back to back goals to take an early 2-0 lead.  Cleary's Sydney Dickerson would answer right back, scoring 3 straight goals herself to help the Cougars take the lead.  The Crusaders would answer this run with a run of their own, scoring the next 5 goals of the game to lead 7-3.   Cleary would narrow the gap with 3 straight goals when Isabel Carr got on the board, and Georgia Price scored after an assist from Sydney Dickerson, and Mallory Tognetti put one home from a free position shot.  Madonna would score the final two goals of the half to go into the break leading 9-6.

Sydney Dickerson opened up the second half with her 4th and final goal of the afternoon, and Mallory Tognetti scored an unassisted goal a couple minutes later to narrow the gap to 9-8, but this would be the closest Cleary would get the rest of the game, as Madonna would go on a 8-2 run, with the lone goals for Cleary being scored by Ashlie Wood and Lexi Wallace.  Madonna would score the final 2 goals of the game to secure the 19-10 victory.

Sydney Dickerson led the Cougars with 4 goals and 1 assist, while Mallory Tognetti added 2 goals.  Isabel Carr and Georgia Price both added 1 goal and 1 assist.  Anna Clark made 20 saves in goal.
Madonna had the advantage over the Cougars in draw controls, turnovers, and total shots.

Cleary will be back in action this Saturday, March 27, when they host the Indiana Tech Warriors in WHAC-tion.  The game is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm at Lake Trust Stadium.