Drew Upsets Nationally-Ranked Ducks

HOBOKEN, N.J. - The Rangers trailed 13-11 with seven minutes left, but scored the last five goals of the game to upset #19 Stevens Tech in women’s lacrosse, 16-13. Lindsey Perno had her best scoring game of the season with six goals and Stacie Brown added five more as the Rangers improved to 9-5. Alyssa Pigott had six for the Ducks (11-4).

The game was tied at 7-7 after the first half. It was close throughout the first as neither team went up by more than two goals. The Ducks had a 2-0 lead after just 80 seconds, but Lindsey Perno got Drew going with an unassisted goal after just two minutes of play. The Rangers were down by two again, but goals from Brown and Meghan Santaniello tied it at 3-3. They would score the next two as well, through Brown and Cara Jeffries, to go up 5-3 with 13 minutes left. Stevens came back with two of their own and would lead 7-6 on a Christine Smith with 1:23 left in the half. It appeared that the Ducks would carry that edge, but Stacie Brown’s second effort with just two seconds left to tie it up.

Perno opened the second half on fire, scoring the first two goals of the half for a 9-7 lead. The back and forth action continued though as the Ducks tied it at nines through Leah Wasserman and Pigott. Tied at 10-10, Sloane Coles gave Drew the lead at 10-9 before Wasserman tied it up. Perno gave Drew the lead at 11-10 before Michelle Buonacuore tied it up. The Ducks would then appear to take a commanding lead as they scored the next two to go up 13-11 with just 8:16 left. The Rangers were having trouble getting it by the Ducks’ keeper, Grace Sack, who made 10 saves in the second half alone.

Appropriately, it was Perno who started the rally. She scored with 7:06 left off Brown’s assist. Not thirty seconds later, Jeffries tied it up after Coles grabbed an important draw. The Rangers then worked a patient offensive set after Noelle Zielinski controlled the next draw to set up Brown’s go ahead tally. Janet Snell, who has come on in the second half of this season to be one of the best defenders on the team, grabbed consecutive draws to set up a pair of Ranger possessions. The first resulted in a Jeffries goal. The second one gave Drew a possession that they turned over, but Brown rectified the situation. The Ducks had possession, but Brown caused a turnover and scored eight seconds later for the 16-13 lead. In the final 2:30 of play, Drew got a pair of groundballs from Jen Schoepflin and another from Snell to finish off the upset.

The win is the Rangers’ first win over a ranked team this year in four tries, but they get another shot on Saturday as they travel to face Catholic in the Landmark Conference regular season finale.