The Bison women’s lacrosse team (2-6) beat the American University Eagles 11-8 at home on March 17 in their first Patriot League game of the season. Morgan Steinhacker ’21 had a hat trick, while Jamie DeWitt ’19 made 13 saves in goal.

Eve Calabria ’21 got the Bison on the board with a goal a little over five minutes into the game. The next three goals were scored by American, giving the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Another goal from Calabria and a goal from Sarah Dohler ’20 tied the game at three heading into halftime.

The Eagles scored three goals in the first five minutes to start the second half. A pair of Bison goals from Julia Bradbury ’21 at 24:59 and 22:47 got the Orange and Blue within one, but American roared back and increased their lead back to three, bringing the score to 8-5 in favor of the Eagles with 18:36 to play.

In the last 16 minutes of the game, the Orange and Blue went on to score six unanswered goals. The late surge was fueled by Morgan Steinhacker ’20, who scored a goal with 15 minutes left in the game. Building on this momentum, the Bison continued to push the pace, as Steinhacker netted two more goals and Tegan Warren ’20 chipped in the game-winner with 1:25 left on the clock.

With the win, the team is now 1-0 in Patriot League play. Standout individual performances were contributed by Steinhacker with three goals, Calabria with two goals and three assists, and goalkeeper J. Dewitt with 13 saves.

“I know our preseason didn’t turn out quite the way we wanted, but we were super excited that things finally lined up and we were able to play a full 60 minutes as hard as we could,” Annie Echeverria ’20 said. “We have two games this week, so our focus is on continuing to grow from some of our mistakes and work as hard as we can. Navy is a workhorse of a team, so if we can out hustle them things will likely go in our favor.”

Next up, the Bison will face the University of Maryland – Baltimore County (UMBC) at home on March 21 at 4:30 pm.