Creech Nets Game-Winner As Spartans Down Chargers

TAMPA, Fla. – With a dramatic go-ahead goal from Madison Creech with 1:10 left in regulation, the University of Tampa women's lacrosse team bested the University of Alabama at Huntsville by a 10-9 score on Saturday evening at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex.

The Spartans improve to 1-4 on the season while the visiting Chargers conclude the contest with a 5-2 overall tally.

Creech was the hero of the contest, picking up a groundball and racing to the opposite goal to score the breakaway game-winner.  The sophomore finished with two goals and an assist for UT.  Fellow sophomore Shannon Sweeney led Tampa with three goals while Amanda Voges netted two.  Attacker Natalie Carraway totaled two assists and the game-tying goal for the Spartans.

Leading-scorer Voges kicked off the contest with a goal in the early minutes, taking a feed from Carraway and sending it to the back of the Chargers' goal.  Midfielder Sweeney added an unassisted goal moments later to give UT a 2-0 lead.

Sophomore Amanda Rom would net the third goal of the contest for Tampa as Creech assisted the goal as the game eclipsed the 20 minute mark in the opening period.  UAH fought back as Natalie Pachinger converted a free-position shot to before Sweeney added a goal to end the half with a 4-1 Tampa lead.

The second stanza saw a UAH swing, as the Chargers quickly scored a pair of goals from Nicole Federovitch and Elizabeth Brown.  The visitors made key adjustments on the draw after trailing in the opening half 4-2 in draw controls.

Sweeney secured the hat-trick with 24:50 left in the contest to move the score to a 5-3 Tampa lead.  The Chargers would add a series of four goals to gain their first advantage of the night, swinging the contest 7-5 in their favor as Federovitch and Pachinger scored again alongside Megan Hartnett and Megan Hart.

Freshman Allie Popelar sent a beautiful pass from Rom to the net to pull UT within one of UAH before Voges evened the contest at 7-7 after scoring off an assist from Liz Kramer.

Creech would net her first goal of the contest to regain the lead for Tampa before Federovitch quickly netted two goals for Huntsville.  Carraway looked to her fellow attackers for the equalizer before charging the net herself and scoring her first goal of the season.

With under two minutes remaining in regulation, attacker Creech sped past the UAH defenders to score the game-winning goal and secure the Spartan's first victory of the season in dramatic fashion.

The UT defense was led by Kramer, Rom and Paige Johnson, as the trio combined for six caused turnovers and six groundballs.  Rom added three draw controls as Tampa edged UAH 11-10 in the draw

Senior Caili Guilday (1-4) earned her first win of the season after picking up five saves in the Tampa goal.  Chargers netminder Haleigh Compe (5-2) was credited with the loss, allowing 10 goals while stopping three Tampa shots.

The Spartans will welcome Stonehill on Monday, March 7 for a 1 p.m. contest over Spring Break. Live stats as well as a live video webcast will be made available through www.tampaspartans.com as well as the new UT Spartans Front Row app, available at both the Apple App Store and through Google Play, free of charge.

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