UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's lacrosse team earned the first win in program history with a 13-8 decision over Northwood on Braddock Field on Tuesday afternoon. The Cardinals (1-3) outscored the Timberwolves (0-4) 13-5 in the final three quarters to earn the win.
"We have been working on the culture of this team, building it up and getting a good foundation. That is what I believe got us this win today," said SVSU Women's Lacrosse Head Coach Cait Gaitley, who earned the first win of her head coaching career. "When all of us work together toward the same goal and work as a unit, that is when we earn the big wins and are able to complete our gameplan like we do in practice every day."
Ally Schneider, Briar-Rose Mackey (Saline, Mich. / Saline HS), and Sarah Graziano (Swartz Creek, Mich. / Swartz Creek HS) scored a hat trick to lead the SVSU offense in the win. Schneider scored the first two goals for the Cardinals in the second quarter before adding her third score on a man-up situation in the third frame to increase the lead to 6-4. Mackey scored a shorthanded goal in the third, a free-position goal, and a man-up goal in the fourth for her hat trick. She added a fourth goal in the closing minutes of the game to lead the team in that category. Graziano scored the team's third goal that trimmed the Northwood lead to 4-3 in the second quarter. She added a second goal to begin the fourth quarter and scored the final goal of the game with one second left on the clock to complete her hat trick.
"Those three have been putting in the work both in and out of practice to get better, and it showed today," said Gaitley. "Having depth within our roster to have equal goals scored amongst multiple players is something we have been striving for, so I am really proud of them for coming out and showing what they can do."
Northwood scored the only goals in the opening quarter to hold a 3-0 lead during the first break.
Schneider then added her first goal before a free-position score by the Timberwolves moved the gap back to three goals with 8:29 remaining in the half.
Schneider scored off an assist from Lainey Lasky (Ortonville, Mich. / Brandon HS) to move the Cardinals within two of tying things up. Graziano then scored unassisted to shrink the margin to a single goal, 4-3, at 5:46 of the second. Graziano then assisted Lainee Carmean (Muskegon, Mich. / Mona Shores HS) in the closing minute of the half to knot things up at four as the teams entered the intermission.
Carmean scored again, this time to begin the third stanza. The goal turned out to be the game-winning score as SVSU moved in front, 5-4, and never looked back.
Schneider finished her hat trick with a man-up tally that gave the Cardinals an insurance score with nine minutes left in the quarter.
Mackey netted her first score with a shortie just under the three-minute mark of the third. Northwood scored at 2:07 to trim the lead to 7-5, where the score stood until the final quarter.
Graziano put the Cardinals back up three with a score with 12:10 left to play in the game. Mackey scored back-to-back goals to move ahead 10-6 before Avery Lockwood (Elkridge, Md. / Howard HS) scored her first goal of the season at 5:54 of the fourth. Mackey then completed her hat trick, and Graziano finished hers to secure the win for SVSU.
Mikaila Stone (W, 1-3) (Murrieta, Calif. / Murrieta HS) earned her first career win in goal for the Cardinals. Stone made some stellar saves in the game to preserve the lead and finished with 13 stops and four ground balls.
Graziano and Mackey led the team in scoring with four points. Graziano with three goals and an assist; Mackey with four goals. Mackey was the team leader in draw controls with five in the game. Schneider added a team-best three caused turnovers to go along with her three scores, and Carmean scored twice while scooping up two ground balls.
UP NEXT: The SVSU women's lacrosse team will hit the road next week for a Spring Break trip to California to face Dominican twice. The first game takes place on Tuesday, March 3 at 6:00 p.m. (ET). The second contest will be on Friday, March 6 at the same time.
