Box Score LEXINGTON, Ky. â€" It was a game-long tug-of-war in harsh conditions between Transylvania women's lacrosse and Calvin on Saturday, as the teams tied five times before the Knights downed the Pioneers in the final minutes, 15-12.

"The team played hard and made a lot of improvements from our game Wednesday," said Head Coach Haley Marvine. "We made some costly mistakes and turnovers, but that's going to happen. We just have to go to work this week and make a few adjustments."

In her second game back from injury, sophomore Aubrey Bausum had a standout day, recording three goals and seven shots. "Aubrey had her best game since she's been back," noted Coach Marvine. "She's really dominating the draw for us."

Goals were also accounted for thanks to sophomore Rachel Harrison, who netted two on four shots, and dominated with 12 ground balls and six draw controls on the day, and sophomores Sky Spraker and Molly Kruse who each netted two apiece.

"Molly Kruse was huge for us today on ground balls," said Coach Marvine. "She had her best offensive game yet."

Despite the heavy rain, the Knights opened the half with intense offensive pressure, netting their first goal less than two minutes into game play. A mere 30 seconds later, Calvin attacked again as Pioneer goalkeeper Lydia Shaughnessy saved a strong shot by Calvin's Emily Cefaratti off a free-position attempt, but was unable to stop her second shot, putting the Knights up 2-0.

The Pioneers attempted to break Calvin's momentum, netting two groundballs and recording the first shot-on-goal by Transylvania's Kruse. But, a turnover by the Pioneers resulted in a successful clear attempt by the Knights, which transitioned into their third-straight goal.
Trailing 3-0, the Pioneers rallied. In less than two minutes, Transylvania managed three-straight goals out of the pockets of Jessica Bier, Natalie Hendrix, and Spraker to knot it up at 3-3 with 20 minutes remaining in the first half.

The battle for the lead ensued over the remaining minutes of the first, as two additional Calvin goals were matched by the Pioneers, tying the game at 5-5. A seven-minute scoring drought suddenly ignited a wave of offensive pressure around the four-minute mark, as the Pioneers struck the Calvin cage three-straight times before the Knights responded.

With 17 seconds left, Calvin's Audrey Grabowski scored off a Transylvania turnover moments before the halftime buzzer sounded, sending the Pioneers into the half leading 8-6.
The second was just as eventful as the first, as the Knights struck back, rallying from two down to tie up the match for the third time, 8-8. As soon as Transylvania would attempt to pull away, the Knights would follow, matching again at 10-10 and 11 all.

With 8:54 on the clock, Calvin began to make their move, finding the back of the Pioneer net three-straight times to gain a 14-11 advantage. Bausum would snag a free position goal at the three-minute mark, bringing the Pioneers within two, 14-12. The final one minute of the contest would see three key saves by the Knights' goalkeeper Delaney Callahan off Pioneer shots on goal, ending Transylvania's hopes at a rally.

Sophomore goalkeeper Shaughnessy was strong for the Pioneers in the cage, making nine key stops, four in the second half, off 24 shots by the Knights.

Transylvania lost the turnover battle, giving up 25 over the course of play, but trumped the Knights in ground balls, 35 to 32 and draw controls, 17-12.

Coach Marvine is pleased with the level of play by her team thus far, but knows there's still great potential untapped within her team. "Our goals are still within reach and we just keep pushing toward those," she said.

Transylvania heads to their final road match on Friday, April 4 against Ohio Wesleyan at 7 p.m. before finishing the season at home in five-straight matchups.