The American University lacrosse team (5-8) lost 16-13 against NCAA No. 25 Army West Point (9-2) in their annual Hispanic Heritage game on April 5 on Jacobs Field.
The Eagles entered the game in the midst of a four-game losing streak, all to conference opponents. Meanwhile, the nationally ranked Black Knights entered the game having won their last three games, including an upset win over No. 4 Stanford.
Early on, American forced an Army turnover. Senior attacker Becca Frank missed her first attempt, but junior attacker Kristen Hegarty, assisted by Frank, made hers, and American opened the scoring. In a game of back and forth, Army responded with a free position goal from midfielder Allison Reilly.
The Black Knights briefly took the lead via Reilly before Eagle senior midfielder Ashley Smith converted the free position attempt, leveling the score at 2. Army came close to retaking the lead when they hit the post three times within a span of 20 seconds.
After withstanding Army pressure and then forcing a turnover, the Eagles regained the lead thanks to Frank’s 18th goal of the season. But Army was relentless. Eagle senior goalkeeper Caleigh Forti made saves against the Black Knights, but midfielder Gabrielle Mirak soon evened the score at 3.
Junior midfielder Reagan Murdoch gave American the lead once again, thanks to an assist from fellow junior midfielder Annabelle Jackson. Forti made three huge saves to once again keep out the Black Knights before they eventually tied the game with 15 seconds left in the first quarter.
The back and forth continued into the second quarter as Army took the lead in less than a minute. Junior midfielder Kellie Linehan responded for the Eagles, assisted by senior attacker Maddy Spratt. Army then took over as Reilly scored her third goal of the game, and Army midfielder Brigid Duffy scored her second and third goal of the game, giving them the 8-5 lead. Though Army had American in the trenches, the score could have been worse without Forti’s strong performance in goal.
After Duffy tallied an eighth point for Army, American responded by winning the draw and then scoring 4 unanswered goals. Murdoch and senior attacker Alyssa Apuzzo scored a goal each in the span of less than a minute to bring American back within one goal of Army.
Thanks to some good defensive play, American got their equalizer through Apuzzo with just three minutes left in the half. Jackson then gave American a short 9-8 lead before being canceled out by another Duffy goal before halftime.
The Eagles started out the second half maintaining possession and forcing Army goalkeeper Lindsay Serafine to make saves. Hegarty capitalized on an Army error and converted another free position shot to give the Eagles the lead. Frank extended the lead further with some help from Murdoch. Reilly and Duffy each added another goal to their already impressive performance to bring the game level at 11.
Just a minute before the third quarter ended, Murdoch restored the Eagles’ lead. Then in the fourth quarter, the Black Knights pelted American with four uninterrupted goals that sealed the Eagles’ fate. Reilly and Duffy brought their total to 6 goals apiece before Linehan momentarily stopped the bleeding. The Black Knights tallied one more goal to bring the final score to 16-13 and extended the Eagles’ losing streak.
“I’m just really proud of how they competed. We had a rough two weeks.. and even though we are 0-4 in these last four, I think how they played today, how they competed and how they continued to fight even in moments when we were down was really important for us,” head coach Lindsay Teeters said. “They’re able to compete with one of the top teams in the country — goes to show that maybe some of these last losses that we had, we might have just played a little soft, so I think it was important to show that we can hang.”
Forti and Murdoch each earned honorable mentions for Patriot League Player of the Week as Forti tallied a career high 17 saves. She currently leads the Patriot League with 136 saves this season and reached the 300 career save mark in this game. Meanwhile, Murdoch led the Eagles with a hat trick and 1 assist.
American will travel to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to take on the Bucknell Bison April 11 before returning home April 19 for its senior day game against the Boston University Terriers.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Jaden Anderson and Nicole Kariuki.
