Eutectics Now 4-1 with Victory over Statesmen

The Eutectic women's lacrosse team improved its program season wins record to four this afternoon in St. Louis with an 11-6 victory over the William Penn University Statesmen (Iowa). The Eutectics were looking to avenge their 18-6 loss to the Statesmen in 2023, UHSP's inaugural season, and came away today satisfied, not once relinquishing the lead.

The Eutectics took control of the match immediately, using only two minutes to make the first mark on the scoreboard from an unassisted goal by Ella Penke. Only two minutes later, the Euts increased their lead with back-to-back goals from Molly Biermann and Qiu Ottolino (assisted by Penke) to go up 3-0. After two quick fouls by UHSP, the Statesmen finally got on the board with a goal from Ashlyn Hoffman four minutes before the end of the first quarter to make it 3-1 heading into the second period.

Biermann scored the second goal of a hat trick early in the second quarter on a free position shot, then Caeley Doran followed up with a UHSP goal to go up 5-1 midway through the period. Nearly a minute later, Hoffman came through with her second of three goals for the Statesmen, but Doran doubled down for her second goal of the quarter off a pass from Michelle Le to regain a four-point lead for the home team (6-2). With two minutes left in the quarter, Biermann closed out her hat trick with another successful free position shot to put the Euts up 7-2 as they headed into halftime.

Taking advantage of a UHSP penalty, Hoffman started off the second half by completing her own hat trick with an unassisted man-up goal less than 30 seconds in. But, after winning the draw control that followed, Biermann passed to Le in front of the goal for the eighth Eutectic goal of the day. WPU then challenged the Euts with two quick goals: one off a man-up free position shot, and one after a successful clear attempt to make it 8-5. But, after a ground ball pickup, Le fed the ball to Ottolino for her second goal of the game to get to 9-5 as they neared the mid-point of the third quarter. That score held through to the final 15 minutes.

The Eutectics dominated possession early in the fourth, but could not find the net until Payton Burke caused a Statesmen turnover and converted it to a Eutectic goal six minutes into the period. Shortly after, Mandy Xa scored the final goal for the Purple and Gold after a successful clear to make it 11-5. William Penn would score once more in the final minutes off a man-up possession to get the final score to 11-6.

The Purple and Gold out-shot the Statesmen 27-15, putting 20 on goal. WPU goalkeeper Catrina Dinehart made nine saves. Brianna Dixon claimed the win for the Eutectics in goal, making five saves on 11 shots.  

The Eutectics dominated draw controls, winning 12 compare to WPU's four, and were successful on nine-of-10 clear attempts compared to the Statemen's 12-of-18.

UHSP goalkeeper Brianna Dixon currently leads the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) for Goals-Against Average at 5.56, while ranking second for goalie Save Percentage at 51%. Caeley Doran and Ella Penke currently rank fourth and fifth in the Conference for season goals with 13 and 10, respectively. Penke also ranks second in assists with eight.

The Eutectics, now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the KCAC, will hit the road on Saturday to play the Missouri Valley College Vikings (1-2) in Marshall, Mo., at 12 p.m.