Junior Emilye Denny during the Tiger's game against Oberlin on March 26. Denny scored the game winner against Allegheny on Saturday. COURTESY OF DEPAUW UNIVERSITY
After losing eight of their previous nine games, the Tigers were finally able to make a major stride this weekend with a 13-12 overtime victory over Allegheny on Saturday and a 20-2 thrashing of Concordia Chicago on Sunday.
This newfound success that the Tigers ran into this weekend was not as surprising to first-year Emma Flynn as it may have been to others. Despite the poor results the team had seen throughout the regular season, she doesn’t believe that they were too far off from success for most of the season.
“I feel like we’ve had this team and this talent all along, and, for whatever reason, we’d kind of been struggling to find that, she said, “It feels really good to finally have some success. We knew we could do it this whole time but there’s just been some pieces missing that I think we finally got back.”
Saturday’s game against Allegheny was a battle until the very end. The Tigers jumped to an early 2-0 lead as Flynn and senior attackman Elizabeth McCracken buried the first goals of the contest. Allegheny quickly responded with a score, but they were sent right back to their two goal deficit when senior midfielder/attackman Maryclaire Heldring put one away.
Although another goal allowed Allegheny to keep the game within reach, goals from Flynn and junior attackman Taylor Summers helped establish a more convincing 5-2 DePauw lead. However, Allegheny was able to work its way back into the game, scoring four straight goals to steal the lead from the Tigers with eight minutes left to play in the first half.
The scoring went back and forth from there, as junior midfielder Emilye Denny and Heldring each scored one more goal heading into the end of the first half. When the first half finally came to a close, the score sat at a stagnant 7-7 tie.
The second half was very similar to the first in that neither team was able to pull away from the other. Allegheny scored first, but they were quickly followed up by a goal from junior attackman Nicole Gibson.
This cycle of goals continued to repeat itself, as another goal from Allegheny was followed up by goals from Summers and Gibson. However, from that point on, the momentum of the game shifted entirely.
The Tigers gave up three straight goals to Allegheny. Although their great efforts to stay in the game prevailed early on, the Tigers trailed by two goals with ten minutes remaining.
Desperately looking to stay in it, Flynn was the saving grace for the Tigers. She scored twice in the final ten minutes to knot the game up at 12. Neither team was able score in the final minutes of regulation, so the game had to be decided in overtime.
It was a brief three-minute overtime period, but it was enough time for the Tigers to pull off the victory, as Denny buried the winning goal with just 24 seconds remaining.
Summers described the scene in excitement as the team erupted with joy and stormed the field to celebrate one of the best team wins they have experienced all season.
“It was so close, we just wanted that goal so bad,” she said.
The excitement from the win over Allegheny carried over into Sunday, as the Tigers were able to rout Concordia Chicago by a score of 20-2.
The game was never a contest for the Tigers; they scored 12 goals in the first half alone.
Heldring said that this win, although satisfying, may have been a tad more expected than the Allegheny win, as Concordia’s lacrosse program isn’t as experienced. In addition to the inexperience of the Concordia players, Heldring credited the different style of play the Tigers implemented on Sunday as well.
“Concordia is a first year program, so they were not as skilled,” she said. “But I think we took a lot of risks that we wouldn’t have necessarily taken in the Allegheny game."
The Tigers have now won three of their past four games, and they only have four more remaining. The Tigers, who currently standing with a record of 4-8, still have a chance to close out the season at .500. Summers thinks the challenging conclusion to the season should give them the opportunity to bring out the best in their play.
“We’ve got some iffy games coming up, but we can definitely come away with the wins in those games,” she said. “We just have to go into it kind of like we did at Allegheny, wanting to get the upset, and not letting their past record or reputation or conference let us think otherwise.”
The Tigers next game will be tonight at Ohio Wesleyan tonight at 7 p.m.