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Among the several sporting events occurring in Bulldog Nation on Saturday were the initial outings of the 2013 club lacrosse campaign for the Georgia men’s and women’s teams. Both Red and Black squads started off well, cumulatively carding a trio of victories in as many contests.
The day got underway with the Georgia ladies’ season opener at Georgia Tech. Though the Yellow Jackets leapt out to a 1-0 lead, midfielder Katie Ezell tied it up and the Red and Black stepped up on defense. Attacker Jenna Dreyer and midfielders Morgan Shumate and Mady Katz scored in succession to make it a 4-1 game. Dreyer’s second goal and attacker Parisa Ayers’s first extended the Bulldogs’ advantage to five before Georgia Tech cut the deficit to 6-2.
Dreyer notched another goal, and an additional Yellow Jacket score sent the game to halftime with Georgia holding a 7-3 edge. The second half got underway with attacker Murphy Ferguson, Dreyer, and Shumate finding the back of the net in sequence. The addition of Dreyer’s fifth score and Ferguson’s second made it a 12-3 game, but the Bulldogs were not finished. Midfielder Melissa Moore, Katz, and midfielder Arden Birdwell tacked on three more goals before the Engineers contributed two cosmetic scores to make it a 15-5 final.
The Red and Black ladies picked up where they left off in their second outing of the day, opening the game against Tennessee with goals by Ferguson, Ezell, Shumate, and midfielder Callie Wheatley to build up a 4-0 advantage. Ferguson notched another, and Moore added one more, before the Volunteers scored to narrow the gap to 6-1. Ferguson tacked on her third goal of the game, then Dreyer got into the action with a score of her own. Wheatley, attacker Emma Goodnow, and Shumate all scored to make it 11-1, then the Big Orange cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 11-2.
A save by goalie Emily Seidel and a score by Moore made it 12-2 at the break, and the second half began with a transition goal by Ferguson. Ezell got a bloody nose on her ensuing score, and Dreyer tacked on another. After Tennessee crept to within twelve, attacker Dessa Dunn notched a pair of goals with a successful bounce shot by Goodnow sandwiched between them. Midfielder Candace Ellery, Goodnow, and Shumate closed out the scoring to make the final margin 21-3.
Meanwhile, at the Club Sports Complex in the Classic City, the Georgia men’s lacrosse team (whose Twitter feed is less active during games than the women’s lacrosse team’s is; hint, hint) opened the season with a 13-6 win over Wake Forest. Georgia scored four goals in the first quarter, four more in the fourth quarter, and five in between. Attacker Trent Dean led the Bulldogs with four goals, attacker Michael Trainer contributed a pair of assists, and goalie Alex Austin carded 15 saves.
After beginning their respective seasons with an opening day that saw them collectively go 3-0 and outscore the opposition by a combined 49-14 margin, the Georgia men will be back in action at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow against Kennesaw State at Sprayberry High School and the Georgia women will head to California for the Santa Barbara Shootout next weekend.
Go ‘Dawgs!