EDWARDSVILLE – After taking a 7-7 tie into halftime, Elizabethtown College went on a 5-1 scoring run to defeat the Wilkes women's lacrosse team 12-8 in their Landmark Conference Senior Day matchup on Saturday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium.
 
The Colonels fell to 2-14 on the season and 0-8 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays improved to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in the Landmark.
 
Elizabethtown opened the scoring at 12:50 of the first quarter before Breanne Fulling (Hyde Park, NY/Franklin D. Roosevelt) knotted things up with an unassisted goal, her eleventh of the campaign. Maleah Cobham (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) kept the momentum going for the Colonels as she potted back-to-back unassisted tallies, bringing her season goal total to 23. With 5:21 left in the first frame, Brooklyn Pedana (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) fired a shot to the back of the net to increase the Blue and Gold's lead to 4-1. Ava Ward (Mount Pleasant, SC/Bishop England) picked up an assist on Pedana's eighteenth goal of 2024. The Blue Jays stopped the bleeding with three consecutive goals to finish the first locked in a 4-4 tie.
 
Ward responded just 21 seconds into the second quarter with her twenty-second goal of the season to take a 5-4 lead with Sam Mullen (Dover, PA/York Catholic) being credited with an assist on the play. ETown bounced back with three unanswered goals, including a man-up marker to reclaim a 7-5 lead. Not to be outdone, the Colonels put up two tallies from Morgan Hettesheimer (Monroe Twp., PA/Tunkhannock Area) and Pedana, who recorded man-down and man-up goals at 6:56 and 3:31 respectively. After 30 minutes of action, Elizabethtown had outshot the Colonels 18-12 while collecting 15 ground balls and being awarded nine free-position shots. Samantha Scott (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) made 11 saves in net for Wilkes.
 
The Blue Jays dominated the third quarter, scoring a trio of goals to open up a 10-7 lead.
 
The visitors tacked on a pair of man-up goals in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to build their advantage up to five goals. Hettesheimer was able to rip another shot past the ETown goalkeeper for a man-down goal to cut the deficit to four, however that would prove to be the final marker of the game as the Blue Jays held their 12-8 through the remainder of regulation.
 
Cobham, Pedana and Hettesheimer all contributed two-goal performances on the field for Wilkes, while Bianka Melendez (New Oxford, PA/New Oxford) recorded a team-high five ground balls. Ward won five draw controls as Scott went the distance, making 14 saves through 60 minutes in goal.
 
Drew Bridges and Sam Deiaco both complete hat tricks in the win for Elizabethtown. Megan Meyer scored twice and won a game-high six draw controls. In the crease, Alayna Trynosky and Rachel Murphy combined for eight saves in the win.
 
The Colonels wrap up their 2024 season on Saturday, April 27 when they host Catholic University for a 1:00 p.m. contest at Schmidt Stadium.