Spartans Drop Season Finale to Tars
WINTER PARK, Fla. - The University of Tampa women's lacrosse team couldn't overcome an early deficit as they fell 17-6 to Rollins Sunday night at Barker Field. With the win the Tars improve to 8-8, while the Spartans finished their inaugural season with a 7-10 mark.
Rollins jumped out to an early lead scoring the first two goals of the contest. Tampa won the ensuing draw control and on the Spartans possession Emilie Barbosa netted an unassisted goal to cut the deficit to 2-1. After two Tars goals, Morgan Cheripko scored her 37th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 4-2 with 16:16 remaining in the opening period. Rollins added a goal at the 13:51 mark to extend their lead to 5-2. Tampa responded 39 seconds later as Amanda Voges picked up the ground ball of a Cheripko's shot and put it into the back of the cage for a goal. Rollins scored seven of the final eight goals of the first half to take a 12-4 lead into the break.
The score would hold at 12-4 until the 21:34 mark of the second half when Jackie Martin converted a free position attempt. Then Rollins scored four unanswered goals to take a 16-5 advantage with 7:21 remaining in the game. Minutes later Cheripko netted an unassisted goal to cut the lead to 16-6. Less than a minute left in the game Caroline Lammere found Tyler Thomas for a goal, for the 17-6 final.
Cheripko led the Spartans with two goals and eight draw controls, while Voges netted a pair of goals and picked up four ground balls. Wylie Cassidy finished the game with eight saves in the cage.
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