GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Southwestern University Pirates women's lacrosse team closed out the Southwestern University Women's Lacrosse Classic with a 13-10 loss to the Wittenberg University Tigers.
Wittenberg opened the game a woman down with injuries forcing the Tigers to compete short-handed. The Tigers managed by taking draw controls in the first half, dominating possession.
The Pirates struggled to contain Wittenberg's Rachel Bernard, who scored a hat trick in the first 11 minutes of action, helping Wittenberg open with an 8-1 run capped off by Gabby Zysik's unassisted goal at the 10:37 mark; her second of the game.
Bernard finished with six goals on 10 shots, including eight on goal with four assists.
In the first half, Wittenberg outshot Southwestern 17-8 with Tigers' goalie Abby Sammons stopping five of the eight Pirates' shots as Southwestern trailed 8-3 at the break.
Southwestern opened the second half with a free position goal from Emma Pertuit at the 27:14 mark. Pertuit followed that up two minutes later with an assist to Grace Maynard to pull the Pirates within three.
Wittenberg's Joanna Stecz answered at the 21:05 mark to give the Tigers some breathing room but teammate Katurah Emery picked up a yellow card at the 20:28 mark, leaving Wittenberg two down, leading to a Pertuit unassisted goal for the 9-6 score.
Johnee Wolter followed with a goal at the 18:37 mark to bring the Pirates within two.
Disaster appeared to strike for Wittenberg when Emery picked up a red card with 17:15 remaining, leaving the Tigers down two for the remainder of the game. The Pirates capitalized, coming within one on a goal by Wolter on a dish from Raven Garcia with 14:48 remaining to bring the score to 9-8.
Wittenberg's Sophie Weintraub and Southwestern's Wolter traded goals to bring the score to 10-9 before Bernard broke the game open again with a free position goal with 9:27 remaining.
Pertuit scored her sixth goal of the game with 8:07 to bring the Pirates within one but Wittenberg answered with goals from Zysik and Bernard to put the game away.
Sammons had a great second half in the net for Wittenberg, stopping 11 of the Pirates' 15 second-half shots to preserve the victory.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 4-3 on the season, including 2-2 at home.