The second-seeded Elon University women’s lacrosse team finished out its season May 2 with a 15-11 loss to third-seeded University of Detroit Mercy in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament.
The Phoenix put up a fight, taking the advantage in shots 29-23, putting 27 on net, but Titans goalie Lexie McCormick came up with 16 saves to keep the Phoenix attack out of the back of the net. The Phoenix won 16-out-of-28 draw controls, four won by Elle Hvozdovic, and picked up 17 ground balls on the day.
Molly Garrigan led the Elon attack, tallying five goals and two assists. Olivia Fernandez, Sydney Hesselbein and Anna Vitton also contributed to the scoring effort for the Phoenix, each netting two goals and Fernandez posting an assist as well.
On the defensive side, the Phoenix went 10-for-12 in clear attempts, but couldn’t hold the Detroit attack in front of net. Goalie Rachel Ramirez, who played all 60 minutes between the pipes, only posted four saves on the Titans 19 shots on goal earning a 21.1 save percentage on the day.
The Phoenix looked good to start the game, putting away two goals in the first four minutes to give them the lead. Garrigan was the first to finish one at the 28:22 mark, followed by Vitton who scored just two minutes later. The Titans answered back and went on a 5-0 scoring run to put them up 5-2 with 15:57 remaining in the half. Molly Garrigan struck again at 13:57, but Detroit responded once again with three straight goals to keep the lead.
With just over five minutes left in the half, Garrigan posted her third goal of the day to cut the deficit to four, but another two goals by the Titans attack carried Detroit into the half with a 10-4 lead over the Phoenix.
Elon came out hot in the second half, putting away two quick goals to make it a 10-6 game in the first three minutes. But again, the Titans answered with two goals of their own to extend the lead back to six goals with 24:14 remaining. After the two teams battled back and forth, each scoring two goals over the next 15 minutes of play, Fernandez led the push for an attempted comeback with a goal to make it 14-9 with 12:24 left to play. Garrigan followed up with a goal with just over five minutes remaining to cut the lead to four, but it wasn’t enough to take back the game.
Detroit held the ball for the final minutes of the game and netted another goal with 2:46 remaining. Garrigan posted the final goal of the game on a free-position attempt with two minutes left on the clock that closed out the season-ending game at 15-11 in favor of the Titans.
This loss closes out a remarkable inaugural season for the Phoenix, which ended regular season play with an 8-8 record overall and 4-1 in conference play and earned a berth to the semifinals of the A-Sun Conference Championship. Next year, Elon will compete in the Colonial Athletic Association.