
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Lacrosse Falls To Youngstown State
4/18/2022 3:26:00 PM | Lacrosse
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Still plenty to play for, but the Central Michigan lacrosse team saw its hopes of an outright Mid-American Conference championship go by the wayside on Monday.
The Chippewas finished with a decided 39-23 edge in shots but could not capitalize enough in falling to Youngstown State, 11-10, in a MAC game at the snowy CMU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.
The loss ended CMU's MAC win streak at four games. The Chippewas are 8-7, 6-2 MAC. Youngstown State improved to 6-2 in league play and both trail first-place Robert Morris, which is 8-0 in the conference. All three have two MAC games remaining.
CMU plays host to Robert Morris on Saturday, April 23. The Chippewas close the regular season at Akron on April 30. Realistically, the Chippewas need to win both of those games and hope that Robert Morris loses twice – the Colonials and Youngstown State meet on April 30 – to forge a tie for the title.
The top four teams in the final standings earn a MAC Tournament berth. The tourney will be played on the campus of the regular season champion.
"I don't know that we can say we looked past (Youngstown State) as much as I think we just didn't do what we know we expect from ourselves," CMU coach Sara Tisdale said. "We've taken everything out of our control, and we've given it to everybody else. It's not the position you want to be in at this point in the year."
The Chippewas defeated the Penguins, 20-11, two weeks ago at Youngstown State. On Monday, the Penguins jumped to a 3-0 lead and though CMU twice tied it, 3-3 and then 7-7, it never could get over the hump.
A Hannah Potter goal with just under eight minutes remaining drew the Chippewas to 9-8, but Youngstown State responded with quick back-to-back goals to extend the lead to 11-8 with just under six minutes remaining.
Maggie Diebold scored twice – first with 37 seconds left, then again with 21 seconds remaining – to give the Chippewas a glimmer of hope of improbably tying the game, but Youngstown State gained control on the final faceoff and the Chippewas never got another good scoring chance.
"Give (Youngstown State) a lot of credit," Tisdale said. "I'm not taking anything away from them and how they played, but we played uncharacteristically for us. Our shooting percentage was at 50 percent on cage, which is never going to win you a game. We outshot them 39-23. That's a huge advantage to not come away with a win.
"It was pretty disappointing that we played undisciplined. Even though we had the opportunities that we wanted."
Diebold finished with three goals to raise her team-leading season total to 50. Potter added two goals. Alexa Martel and Erin Owens split the game in the cage for the Chippewas. They combined for five saves.
Ali Korin scored five goals, two of which came in the fourth period, to lead the Penguins. YSU goalkeeper Savannah Clarke made 10 saves.
"I've said it so many times, we have to stick to our game plan," Tisdale said. "Playing teams twice is super tough. Doesn't matter who they are. Teams are going to get up if they've lost to you, and when you've beaten them big. That's exactly what Youngstown did, they got up. They wanted it today.
"This is a good reminder for us. We need to do what makes us the most successful and those small pieces – day-before-game preparation -- have to be exact. We've got to stick to what works and we can't deviate from that."
The Chippewas finished with a decided 39-23 edge in shots but could not capitalize enough in falling to Youngstown State, 11-10, in a MAC game at the snowy CMU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.
The loss ended CMU's MAC win streak at four games. The Chippewas are 8-7, 6-2 MAC. Youngstown State improved to 6-2 in league play and both trail first-place Robert Morris, which is 8-0 in the conference. All three have two MAC games remaining.
CMU plays host to Robert Morris on Saturday, April 23. The Chippewas close the regular season at Akron on April 30. Realistically, the Chippewas need to win both of those games and hope that Robert Morris loses twice – the Colonials and Youngstown State meet on April 30 – to forge a tie for the title.
The top four teams in the final standings earn a MAC Tournament berth. The tourney will be played on the campus of the regular season champion.
"I don't know that we can say we looked past (Youngstown State) as much as I think we just didn't do what we know we expect from ourselves," CMU coach Sara Tisdale said. "We've taken everything out of our control, and we've given it to everybody else. It's not the position you want to be in at this point in the year."
The Chippewas defeated the Penguins, 20-11, two weeks ago at Youngstown State. On Monday, the Penguins jumped to a 3-0 lead and though CMU twice tied it, 3-3 and then 7-7, it never could get over the hump.
A Hannah Potter goal with just under eight minutes remaining drew the Chippewas to 9-8, but Youngstown State responded with quick back-to-back goals to extend the lead to 11-8 with just under six minutes remaining.
Maggie Diebold scored twice – first with 37 seconds left, then again with 21 seconds remaining – to give the Chippewas a glimmer of hope of improbably tying the game, but Youngstown State gained control on the final faceoff and the Chippewas never got another good scoring chance.
"Give (Youngstown State) a lot of credit," Tisdale said. "I'm not taking anything away from them and how they played, but we played uncharacteristically for us. Our shooting percentage was at 50 percent on cage, which is never going to win you a game. We outshot them 39-23. That's a huge advantage to not come away with a win.
"It was pretty disappointing that we played undisciplined. Even though we had the opportunities that we wanted."
Diebold finished with three goals to raise her team-leading season total to 50. Potter added two goals. Alexa Martel and Erin Owens split the game in the cage for the Chippewas. They combined for five saves.
Ali Korin scored five goals, two of which came in the fourth period, to lead the Penguins. YSU goalkeeper Savannah Clarke made 10 saves.
"I've said it so many times, we have to stick to our game plan," Tisdale said. "Playing teams twice is super tough. Doesn't matter who they are. Teams are going to get up if they've lost to you, and when you've beaten them big. That's exactly what Youngstown did, they got up. They wanted it today.
"This is a good reminder for us. We need to do what makes us the most successful and those small pieces – day-before-game preparation -- have to be exact. We've got to stick to what works and we can't deviate from that."
Team Stats
YSU
CMU
Shots
23
39
Turnovers
17
15
Caused Turnovers
6
12
Draw Controls
15
10
Free-Position Shots
7
4
Ground Balls
14
24
Game Leaders
Players
Players Mentioned
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