Tiffin University women's lacrosse (8-6, 5-2 G-MAC) dropped a hard-fought 12-8 battle to Findlay in the Battle of 224 Wednesday afternoon at the Paradiso Athletic Complex.
With G-MAC Tournament implications on the line, Mother Nature played a big factor in this one. The start time was delayed 65 minutes due to storms and lightning in the area and once the game got going, the teams played just 4:50 of action before entering a two-hour delay this time around.
With Tiffin's loss on Wednesday, the Dragons missed out on a top two seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will now have to play in one of the two quarterfinal matchups.
Lillian Graham gave the Dragons an early 2-0 lead four minutes in before the game was halted due to storms. After the game resumed, with six minutes left in the first quarter, Ashley Spangler gave the Dragons a 4-1 lead.
Once the second quarter started, Findlay went on a run. The Dragons saw their 4-1 lead evaporate over a five-minute span, but two goals in the final 3:08 made it a 7-7 game going into halftime.
Tiffin did not find offensive success in the second half, seeing multiple shots hit either off the post or the crossbar. The third quarter was defensively dominated with the Oilers holding a 1-0 advantage to head into the fourth with the lead.
Katelyn Jarvis scored TU's first and only goal of the second half at the 12:15 mark of the fourth quarter, which snapped a 15-minute scoring drought to cut the deficit to 10-8. Any momentum the Dragons had gained back was quickly lost when a yellow card gave the Oilers a woman up opportunity and they took advantage scoring 32 seconds after the goal by Jarvis to regain their three-goal lead.
Findlay's defense stifled Tiffin's offense leading to a 5-1 Oiler goal advantage in the second half.
Tiffin dominated the game statistically, outshooting the Oilers 28-21 while also winning the ground ball battle 30-19. TU also won 15 of 22 draw controls.
Jarvis led the offense scoring three goals while Graham and Ashley Spangler each scored two. Isabelle Vranjes scored the other goal and also recorded one assist. Lauren Walsh tallied three assists and Dane Shehadeh finished with two assists. Kenna Wigginton led the team with four caused turnovers.
Sarah Hart and Paige Waldrup each played 30 minutes in goal. Waldrup took the loss after playing the second half and allowed five goals while recording five saves. Hart allowed seven goals and made two saves.
