The DePauw University Tigers traveled to Meadville, Pennsylvania for their final game of the season to face the Allegheny College Gators with only one mission in mind: to win.
The Tigers quickly discovered that defeating the Gators would be an easy feat. Saturday morning each team stepped onto the field set to end its' seasons with a win, but the Tigers found success with their determination and teamwork leading to a 13-4 win.
Senior Megan Morrison said the team expected Allegheny to put up a fight, but the Tigers were ready for the challenge.
“We were all really motivated to come out with a win for our last game of the season to end on a high note, and we all just worked well together throughout the game,” Morrison said.
The week leading up to the Tigers' last game was tough as the ladies faced two losses against Kenyon College (10-17) and Denison University (4-15). The players were especially disappointed after facing the Big Red.
“It was definitely a rough game,” sophomore Nicole Gibson said. “We could’ve done a few things better, but overall Denison is a great team and we can learn a lot from playing them.”
The Tigers recovered though and bounced back to face the Gators and improve with its 13-4 victory against Allegheny. The team ended the year 7-9 overall and 3-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
The teams played a tight game in the first half as Allegheny led only by one goal up until 5:16 left when sophomore Taylor Summers tied the score at 2-2 and immediately scored again to put the Tigers in the lead 3-2. The Tigers widened the margin after first-year Marisa Ellison and Gibson put two more goals in the back of the net to go into halftime up 5-2.
Despite a slow first half the Tigers came out to finish the game on a high note quickly increasing the score to 8-2 with goals by sophomore Emilye Denny, senior Carey Kunz and junior Abigail Snively. The Gators scored their final goal at 9-4, but then the Tigers tacked on four more to finish out the game.
Surprisingly, Allegheny outshot the Tigers 31-24, held a 28-23 in ground balls and dominated draw controls 10 out of eight times throughout the match. But the Tigers weren’t going to let the Gators outshine them as they found the back of the net time and time again.
“The biggest challenge for us was keeping our composure against a team like Allegheny who plays with high pressure,” Morrison said. “It was awesome to end our season with a win and to improve our conference record from last year. We are still a new team so it's awesome to see us improve from when we started my sophomore year.”
After beginning in 2013 as a varsity team the Tigers won seven games this season to set the record in DePauw’s history.
“It’s been such a great season and honestly there have been so many highlights,” first-year Emma Flynn said. “Despite the score we always played our hardest this season, fighting for the whole 60 minutes.”