The St. Thomas Aquinas lacrosse team lost to Lake Erie College, 23-22 in OT. Stephanie Brown scored a career high 8 goals for STAC while Anne Buttafuoco had 4. Marianne Kugler and Johanna Mitchell each scored 3 goals while Lindsey Lawless and Sara Schmidt each had 2. Kim Pinzon had 14 saves for STAC.
STAC opened the game strong scoring the first goal and going on to a 5-3 lead. Erie responded later in the half scoring nine goals to STAC's three. The Strom had a 12-8 lead at the half. STAC scored six of the first nine goals in the second half to cut into Erie's lead, 15-14. After falling behind by three, the Lady Spartans made a late charged a took a 19-18 lead in the final minutes of play behind a goal from M. Kugler. Erie responded to tie the game however, Buttafuoco charged up the field and scored to give STAC a 20-19 lead. With :07 seconds Erie's Julia Kudla tied the game to force overtime.
Erie scored the first two goals in the extra session before STAC cut the lead to one, 22-21 with Brown's eighth goal. Mitchell scored the final goal for STAC with less then a minute remaining to bring them within one, 23-22. Erie held on for the final possession to pull off the win.
Buttafuoco finished the season with a team high 26 goals and 1 assist. Brown finished the season with 18 goals almost doubling her total goals in Saturday's game. Marianne Kugler finished her senior season with 16 goals and fellow senior Lawless had 15 goals for the season. Mitchelle added 13 goals in her rookie campaing. Sara Schmidt scored 7 goals while Liz Gronwoldt chipped in 2 and Kylie Fitzgerald had 1 this season. Jen Kugler recorded 138 saves this season and was sidelined due to injury in her final two games. Junior Kim Pinzon stepped in and recorded 17 saves for the season. The Lady Spartans will return eight players for next season.
Today's game represented senior day for STAC's five seniors; Jen Kugler, Marianne Kugler, Lindsey Lawless, Michelle Meier, and Kaitlin Whiting. The St. Thomas Aquinas athletic department would like to thank these seniors for their four years of hard work and dedication to Spartan Athletics.
