Wildcats Fall In Big South Final, 9-7, to High Point; Three Named All-Tourney

Sunday, April 28

Davidson, N.C.

2:00 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

11-7

No. 2 High Point (ESPN3)

10-8

Team	1	2	Final F
High Point	4	5	9
Davidson	5	2	7

Wildcats Fall In Big South Final, 9-7, to High Point; Three Named All-Tourney

4/28/2013 5:22:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score (html)
DavidsonPhotos.com

DAVIDSON, N.C. – In the inaugural Big South Women's Lacrosse Championship title game, the Wildcats saw High Point break up a 6-all tie by scoring three of the final four goals in the final 17 minutes to win the tournament title 9-7 on a steady, rainy Sunday afternoon at Richardson Stadium.

The Panthers (10-8) earned the league's automatic bid into the 2013 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament and learn their destination Sunday, May 5.

Top-seeded Davidson's outstanding season came to an end as the Wildcats finished 11-7 overall. The 11 wins tied the 2008 record for most in a single-season.

Junior Ann Fucigna, who led the Wildcats with a pair of goals to open the game, finished with three scores and broke her own single-season school-record with 53 goals. Sophomore Emily Cooke added a pair of assists to give her a Wildcat single-season record 55 and closed out the year with a single-season record 87 points.

HPU was led by Alec Perry and Christie Dougherty with three goals each, while Emily Meier added a pair of scores.

Davidson's senior defensive trio of Jessica Melby, Erin McGuire and Abigail Doelger were each named to the Big South All-Tournament Team.

The tightly contested game was tied four times while the largest lead was just two goals. High Point took the lead for good at 17:40 in the second half when Perry bounced a free-position shot past Davidson keeper Melby that gave the Panthers a 7-6 advantage.

Emily Meier tacked on the game-winner with 16:10 go for an 8-6 lead. The Wildcats turned the ball over in their own zone, with Kendyl Gardner picking up the groundball and easily finding Meier in the circle for the game-winner.

The 'Cats would counter with a give-and-go when Alanna Parker put home a Cooke pass to cut the deficit to one, 8-7, with 13:53 remaining. But, they were held scoreless the rest of the way, getting off just one more shot by Parker at the 6:51 mark as High Point ran out the clock.

Davidson was also hurt by costly turnovers in the last 16 minutes, coughing the ball up five times. They finished with 16 total, 11 of those coming in the second half.

Fucigna scored the game's first two goals at 28:44 on a free-position attempt and then later at 26:30. The Panthers came back later to tie it up for the first time on Meier's score with 13:52 remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats' Emma Sissman scored at 9:48 to get the lead at 3-2, and Emily Rademacher made it 4-2 just 38 seconds later. Perry made it a one-goal game for High Point with 8:17 left in the first half and Dougherty tallied her second goal of the contest at 6:38 to knot the score up for the second time at 4-4.

Davidson regained the lead before halftime at 1:57 remaining on the clock when Erin Doherty converted on Cooke's pass for a 5-4 advantage.

High Point tied the game a third time when Grace Gaeng scored the first goal of the second half. It remained tied until Dougherty's third goal of the day gave the Panthers their first lead of the game, 6-5, at 20:24.

The lead was short-lived as Fucigna notched her hat trick goal at 18:47 to tie the game a fourth time at 6-6.

Melby finished her final game as a Wildcat with 10 saves in the defeat. She stopped 415 shots in her four years, placing her third all-time. Melby's 8.36 goals against average was also a Wildcat single-season record and led the Big South this year.

Also playing their final games as Wildcats were Doelger, McGuire, Parker, Lindsay Cooper and Morgan Tarrant.

2013 Big South Women's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team
Jasmine Jordan, High Point (MVP)
Cissy Woodyard, High Point
Emily Meier, High Point
Alec Perry, High Point
Jessica Melby, Davidson
Erin McGuire, Davidson
Abigail Doelger, Davidson
Kathleen Battle, Longwood
Jamie Brentlinger, Longwood
Chloe McIntosh, Liberty
Amber Nichols, Liberty