Falcons down Denison
Seven goal half gives NDC second win
| Box |

The Big Red were able to get on the board first but not until the 22:15 mark into the opening half. Michelle Bennett (Jr/New York, NY) received a pass from Jenny Strathern (Fr/Worthington, OH). NDC fired back just over a minute later when Sarah Hutchison (So/Powell, OH) received a similar pass to the inside from Molly Merrill (Jr/Medina, OH) to even it up at one goal apiece. In what would be Denison’s final lead of the game, Meg Wilcox (Sr/Sewickley, PA) scored to put the Big Red up 2-1. With 9:25 left in the half, Gena McPherson (So/Brampton, ONT) received a pass at midfield from a defensive caused turnover and ran the ball down on transition and evened the score out one final time.

In a first half full of poor shot selection and tough defense, neither team saw any goals scored since McPherson’s netfinder until 0:44 left in the half when Ashley Rutz (Fr/Milton, ONT) scored what would be the eventual gamewinner and put the Falcons up for good.

Notre Dame came right out in the second half with two quick goals from McPherson and Merrill less than one minute in. Denison attempted to rally over the next few minutes but could only get within two of the Falcons before a five-goal run over the final 23 minutes of the game to secure the 10-4 win.

Rutz lead all scorers with seven points from a hat trick and four assists. McPherson finished with five goals while Merrill finished with one goal and one assist.

Kylie Flett (Sr/Adelaide, Australia) played all 60 minutes between the pipes making seven saves and grabbing four groundballs. Jo Bauswein (Jr/Bainbridge, OH) finished with four groundball while three different Falcons finished with two caused turnovers apiece.

The Falcons take the next seven days off and return to action on Wednesday, Mar. 26 when they travel to Meadville, PA to face Allegheny. The game is scheduled for 4:30pm.

NOTES FROM THE NEST...

RALLYING RUTZ: Over the last two games, Ashley Rutz has scored 12 points (five goals, seven assists) to increase her points six-fold since Mar. 25. In the first three games alone, the freshman midfielder only picked up two total points (1G, 1A). She is currently third on the team in points with 14 (6G, 8A). Rutz’s assist performance is her second consecutive NDC season-high following her three helpers against Wittenberg last week (Mar. 14) and marks her second multiple point performance in her debut career in Blue & Gold. The seven points against the Big Red put her second in single-game point scored rankings.

SHOOT TO WIN: In NDC’s first three games, they were outshot by the opponent 54-67 while being outscored 21-30. Over the last two bouts, NDC has outshot their opponent 53-22 while scoring 22 goals to the opponents’ eight.  The Falcons are now 43-for-107 (40.2 shot pct.) while averaging 8.60 goals/game this season.