GAMBIER, Ohio – In their home opener, the Kenyon Ladies (1-1) lacrosse team put forth a strong effort before falling in overtime, 11-10, to the visiting John Carroll University Blue Streaks. A season ago, JCU handled the Ladies, winning 20-9. This time, however, Kenyon stayed with the strong Ohio Athletic Conference program.
 
Within the game's first two minutes, Lucy Somers and Maya Fair had scored, pushing the home squad to a 2-0 lead. Then at the 23:37 mark, Somers struck again from near the left post to extend the Ladies' advantage to 3-0.
 
The Blue Streaks adjusted a bit after, especially on the defensive front, and fought back to cut the deficit to 3-2 following a goal from Emma Workman.
 
Kenyon attained two more two-goal leads after the Workman goal. Cassie Hudson-Heck scored on a pass from Julia Mahoney bringing the tally to 4-2. Later, Hudson-Heck fed Somers to push Kenyon up 5-3.
 
Down by two with less than 10:30 left, the Blue Streaks took advantage of some Keyon fouls.
 
JCU scored four of the next five to take a 7-6 lead into the break. Three of those scores came on free-position shots. Alex Heishman, Brittany Pritchard and Alexis Guage scored those attempts and by halftime, John Carroll had converted 4-of-6 in that category.  
 
In the second half, Fair, a newcomer for the Ladies, tied the game at 7-7 about seven minutes into action. The visitors responded with the next two goals from Colleen Grombala and Heishman before Kenyon rallied.
 
Over the final 18:34, Kenyon scored three times and was aided by goalie Carina Barnes who notched three saves. Down 9-8, Maggie Grabowski tied the contest with 12:35 left.
 
Kenyon found itself down again, 10-9, before finding the equalizer with 1:12 remaining.
 
With the Ladies circling the ball around the Blue Streaks net, Katelyn Schwartz found a cutting Avery Morgan who scored from the right side.
 
Kenyon had one more offensive possession but turned the ball over and the game went to overtime.
 
In the extra session, there was only one shot, and that came to Grombala who scored a little over a minute in.
 
Next on the schedule for Kenyon is another tough matchup against OAC power University of Mount Union. That game is slated to start on March 26 at 3 p.m.