Lakewood, N.J. - It was a Senior Day to remember for the Georgian Court University women's lacrosse team Sunday afternoon as
Taylor Bauerband,
Tiffani Kipila and
Xena Valenzuela closed out their final regular season by contributing to a 22-7 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference home win vs. Holy Family University.
Valenzuela stole the show in dramatic fashion as the senior, sitting at 93 career goals entering the contest, poured in the required seven tallies to eclipse the prestigious 100-goal plateau in front of a supportive and vocal gathering of the GCU faithful.
The Lions (11-6, 9-0 CACC), leading by only two 7:24 into the game, exploded on a 7-0 run to take a commanding 11-2 advantage after a Bauerband goal at the 18:07 mark. Holy Family's
Casey Brown made the score 11-3 at 16:46 before GCU galloped on a spurt of six unanswered to create a 17-3 surplus with 5:12 to go before intermission.
With the result being an afterthought by this point, all attention was now focused on Valenzuela and her milestone moment, which finally happened when the senior netted a free-position goal 4:28 into the second half.
GCU spread the wealth as nine different Lions found the back of the net. Bauerband,
Samantha Fernandez and
Arianna Quinlan all recorded hat tricks in the win while
Nicole Barbella netted two goals and dished five assists in the effort. Kipila registered her second tally of the year with 7:51 to go in the game (appropriately assisted by Valenzuela) to provide the home team a Senior Day trifecta in the scoring column.
Amber Neumann moves to 11-6 in the Georgian Court net as the keeper collected two saves in her 30:00 of time.
The Lions now set their focus on this weekend's CACC Championship Tournament (hosted by Georgian Court) as the reigning champs, and #1 overall seed, will take on the winner of the #4 Caldwell University/#5 Wilmington University quarterfinals contest (Tuesday) this Saturday at noon.
Winners of 20 straight vs. conference foes (including playoffs), GCU defeated Caldwell, 18-5, back on April 4 while beating Wilmington by the same score on April 10. #2-seed Jefferson will battle the winner of #3 Chestnut Hill/#6 Dominican College Saturday at 2:30 p.m.