Dixon Makes 100th Save as Eutectics Earn Fourth-Straight Win

The Eutectic women's lacrosse team improved its record to 6-1 with its fourth-straight win - an 11-8 victory at Truett-McConnell University (1-7) in Cleveland, Ga., on Saturday. UHSP goalkeeper Brianna Dixon made 14 saves in the game to reach a career milestone of 100 saves as the Eutectics maintained the lead throughout the game.

The Eutectics took the lead early in the first quarter off a free position shot by Michelle Le at 11:10. Shortly after that, Mandy Xa scored an unassisted goal to double the UHSP lead going into the second quarter.

Two more early goals by the Purple and Gold (Haley Smith assisted by Doran, and Qiu Ottolino unassisted and down a player) gave them a 4-0 lead before the home team could mark the board. At 8:56 the TMU Bears scored an unassisted goal (Shelby Nail), then converted on a free position shot (Marlo McBrayer) less than two minutes later to set the score at 4-2. The Eutectics' Caeley Doran put in the first goal of her hat trick at 4:49 off a free position shot with UHSP down a player to make it 5-2, but in the final minute of the first half, Nail snuck one more goal past the Eutectic defense (while still down a player) to create a halftime score at 5-3.

Nail started off the second half with an unassisted goal (DN) to close the gap to 5-4. But, Ottolino improved the Eutectic cushion with an unassisted goal only a few seconds later, and Doran found the net at 7:11 (UP - unassisted) to regain a comfortable 7-4 lead. The home team would score once more with six seconds left in the third period, but UHSP still held a 7-5 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.

Just a minute into the fourth quarter, TMU's Katie Smith tightened the game to 7-6 with an unassisted goal while down a player. But, the Eutectic offense followed up with a four-goal streak as Xa (unassisted) and Doran (assisted by Ottolino) took advantage of a TMU penalty to score. Then, in the next five minutes, Melanie Doub and Le each scored on free position shots to strengthen the UHSP lead to 11-6. Nail scored two more for the Bears in the final minutes, but the Eutectics were up 11-8 when time ran out.

As they have all season, the Eutectics continued to dominate draws, winning 14 of the 22 in the game. 12 of those were won by Michelle Le. The UHSP team also out-performed the Bears in ground balls, picking up 48 to the Bears' 36. TMU got 11 more shots off, but Dixon's 14-save performance in goal more than made up the difference.

Dixon has taken over the number-one position in the NAIA for Goals-Against Average at 6.00. She also leads the NAIA in Save Percentage at 55.0.

Caeley Doran earned another hat trick in the game against TMU. It is the fourth game this season where she has scored three or more goals. Doran and Qiu Ottolino each picked up nine ground balls in the game against TMU, with Ottolino causing seven turnovers. After today's four ground balls for Doran, she currently ranks second in the NAIA for Ground Balls and Caused Turnovers.

The Eutectics will continue their spring break road trip to Florida, heading to Babson Park to take on Webber International University (7-2) on Monday at 12 p.m. before a same-day matchup with Warner University (7-3) at 5 p.m. in Lake Wales.