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"2013 is the year the DAWGS will come out ON TOP" starts here. Build it up dawgs #crushTexas
— UGA Women's Lacrosse (@UGAWomensLax) February 16, 2013
What turned out to be a stellar Friday of Bulldog athletics was capped off by the Georgia women’s lacrosse team’s opening outing in the 25th Annual Santa Barbara Shootout. In the night game pitting two top ten teams, the Red and Black ladies outlasted Texas, 9-6.
Roughly four minutes into the contest, junior attacker Murphy Ferguson scored to put the Bulldogs ahead, 1-0. After sophomore defender Cat Winslow drew a yellow card, the Longhorns scored a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead. Ferguson knotted the score on a free position shot to notch her second goal of the game and start a flurry of scoring in a short span.
Junior attacker Emma Goodnow got into the act with a goal to put Georgia back out in front, then Ferguson followed that up with the shot that gave her the hat trick. Texas quickly responded, cutting the deficit to one, but Ferguson answered with her fourth score of the first half. A late save by senior goalie Emily Seidel sent the Red and Black to intermission with a 5-3 advantage.
After the break, sophomore attacker Jenna Dreyer scored to extend the Bulldogs’ edge, but the Longhorns swiftly notched a trio of goals to forge the game’s third tie, this time at 6-6. Ten minutes later, Goodnow scored for the second time, reclaiming the lead for Georgia with a successful free position shot. A modicum of insurance was provided by sophomore midfielder Katie Ezell on another free position shot, and sophomore attacker Parisa Ayers extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 9-6 with approximately three minutes remaining.
That proved to be the final margin of a game that (judging by the yellow card and the multiple free position shots) was enthusiastically contested by all participants. In the Red and Black’s three-score victory, eight of the Athenians’ goals came from the attack position. Tomorrow, the Georgia women will face UCLA at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and Michigan six hours later.
Go ‘Dawgs!