Lacrosse Comes Back to Beat Cal, 13-11

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BERKELEY, Calif. (March 12, 2005) – Shannon Burke had four goals and three assists as the University of Connecticut women’s lacrosse team rallied for a 13-11 win over California on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. UConn improves to 3-0 on the season, its best start since a 5-0 run to open the 2000 campaign. The win extends UConn’s school record road winning streak to seven games. The Bears dip to 2-2 with the loss.

The Huskies trailed by four goals at 7-3 early in the second half, but maintained the confidence built during their first two games of the year (both wins) and would overcome that margin to tie the school record for the largest come from behind win. UConn also overcame a four goal deficit on April 28, 2004 in an 11-9 win at Brown during a game in which the Bears led 6-2 at one point.

Tracy Mullaney, Burke and Kristen Link all tallied for UConn in the first half, but the teams went to the break with the Bears on top 6-3. Cal extended its edge to 7-3 just 3:38 into the second half when Laura Cavallo scored her second goal of the game on a free position shot. Burke would either score or set up each of the next five UConn goals as the momentum slowly turned in the favor of the visiting Huskies. Burke assisted on a Bonnie Levin goal at 22:24 and scored on her own, unassisted, at 20:42 to make it a 7-5 game. With the score 9-6 for the Bears with 16 minutes to play, UConn’s confidence kicked in. Burke tallied on a free position at 15:53 and then struck again, unassisted, at 12:36. Laura Trzasko’s unassisted goal at 11:27 knotted the game at 9-9. Cal reestablished itself, taking leads of 10-9 and 11-10, but the Huskies would not be kind guests, scoring the game’s final three goals. Tanya Kotowicz netted her second goal of the year, unassisted, with 6:18 to play to tie the score and then Link’s second of the game, on a free position shot, would prove to be the game-winner at 1:50. Link made it a hat trick, the first of her career, by adding an insurance goal, from Mullaney, with 11 seconds remaining.

Helping the tide turn in the UConn win was steady defensive midfield play, keeping the action at the Bears end. Trzasko filled out her stat line nicely with five ground balls, four caused turnovers and four draw controls. Kelly Robinson continued the pace from her strong defensive effort on Wednesday at UC-Davis, causing two turnovers and collecting a ground ball. Heather McHugh also contributed to the defensive effort as UConn yielded just six non-free position tallies. Goalkeeper Jennifer Wong stopped 12 shots in the Husky net.

UConn will play its home opener on Wednesday, March 16, when the Huskies face Quinnipiac at 3:00 p.m. in Storrs.