Spartans Victorious Over Bears in Midweek Clash

TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 18 University of Tampa Women's Lacrosse team hosted the Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears for a midweek matchup. Caroline Forester paced the offense as she scored five times to lead UT to a 12-7 win over the visiting Bears as the Spartans won their fifth straight game.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: Tampa 12, Lenoir-Rhyne 7
Records: Spartans (6-2), Bears (2-5)
Location:  Naimoli Family Field | Tampa, Fla.
All-time Series:  The Spartans trail the Bears 1-2 in the all-time series.
Follow Us: @TampaSpartans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Vimeo.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

1st Half

•  The visitors took no time in going ahead on the scoreboard as the Bears took the lead 34 seconds into the game.
• After going back and forth across the field, Tampa tied the game at 1-1 with just under 10 minutes played in the half as Allie Popelar scored from a free-position attempt.
• With 12 minutes to go in the half, Lenoir-Rhyne retook the lead as Sousa scored her second goal of the game to give her team a 2-1 lead.
• Two minutes later, the Spartans tied up the game once again as Lauren McNeill scored her second goal of the season.
• Claire Swanson gave UT their first of the lead with 2:40 with her team-leading 14th goal of the season to make it 3-2.
• With the shot clock about to expire, Caroline Forester took a pass from Amanda Rom and scored to give her team a two-goal lead with a minute left in the half.
• Tampa took advantage of three unanswered goals to lead 4-2 at the break.

2nd Half

• The Bears started the second half like they did the game with a goal 33 seconds in to make the score 4-3.
• Forester scored her second of the game on a free position attempt with just under two minutes played in the half to make it a two-goal lead once again for the home side.
• McNeill joined Forester with two goals apiece as she scored a minute later with the assist by Rachel Crawford to give UT their biggest lead of the game up to that point.
• Forester kept up the Tampa pressure on the Bears and it paid off as she notched her third goal of the game for the hattrick and make it 7-3 in favor of the Spartans.
• With 17:34 left in the game, Forester kept up her scoring streak as she tallied her fourth to extend the Tampa run to four unanswered goals since the Bears scored to open the half leading to a Lenoir-Rhyne timeout.
• Rom picked up a loose ball near the goal and scored for the Spartans as the offensive outburst continued and UT extended their lead to six goals at 9-3.
• Tampa reached the double-digit goal mark as Megan Sengelmann scored her first goal of the season on a free position attempt.
• The visitors snapped the run with a goal shortly after Tampa's to make it 10-4 with 13:22 left in the game.
• Gabby Sousa scored her third goal of the game for the Bears on a free position attempt to cut into the deficit less than a minute later.
• After UT had taken back some of the momentum, the Bears went back to Sousa for guidance on the offensive side as she scored and made it 10-6 still in favor of Tampa.
• A fourth straight goal by LR cut the lead for the Spartans to just three goals at 10-7.
• Forester stopped the Bears run with her fifth goal of the game this one unassisted after some spinning and turning to get past the defenders with 7:36 left in the game.
• Tampa added another goal as Crawford scored her first goal of the game to make it 12-7.

INSIDE THE STATS:

• After scoring four goals in the first half, Tampa scored eight times in the second half.
• UT held an 11-4 edge in saves for the game.
• Seven different players score for the Spartans.

BEYOND THE BOX:

• Forester came up one goal short of tying the school record for goals in a game.
• The Spartans have outscored their opponents 79-38 during their five-game win streak.
• UT has scored in double digits in all eight games this season.

UP NEXT:
Tampa will host the No.23 McKendree University Bearcats. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

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