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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Colleen Grombala
Sammy Fay
Colleen Grombala dazzles as JCU outmuscles Capital
11
Capital CAPW 4-0
17
Winner John Carroll JCUW 5-0
Capital CAPW
4-0
11
Final
17
John Carroll JCUW
5-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Capital CAPW 4 7 11
John Carroll JCUW 10 7 17

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse | | By: Luke Potosky

Blue Streaks Win Second Battle of Unbeatens in Three Days

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Before the 2021 season started, John Carroll Women's Lacrosse head coach Rachel Dell said that this was the season the Lady Blue Streaks were waiting for. A fan of John Carroll lacrosse might say, however, that this was the WEEK the team had been waiting for.

Coming into the week of March 7th, there were three unbeaten women's lacrosse teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference; Mount Union, Capital, and John Carroll. The Blue Streaks had the privilege of facing both the Purple Raiders and Crusaders within a matter of days this week.

After beating nationally-ranked and unbeaten Mount Union in a shootout in Alliance on Wednesday night, JCU quickly turned its attention to undefeated Capital who they hosted at Don Shula Stadium on Saturday.

John Carroll defeated Capital on March 13 by a final score of 17-11, improving to 6-0 on the season.

The game began as a defensive battle in the first ten minutes or so as neither team scored in the first 9:05 of play. However, it was the Blue Streaks who struck first.

Colleen Grombala opened up the game's scoring and then scored another goal a mere 15 seconds later. Jenna Ginsberg tallied a goal 30 seconds after that, and then 17 seconds later, Grombala scored her third goal of the game, giving her a hat trick in one minute and two seconds!

After Capital quelled the 4-0 JCU run to start with a goal of their own, Claire Mezzoprete responded with her first and only score of the game to make it 5-1. Shortly after that, Kendall Gessner attempted a long-range pass that ended up rolling into the goal, making it 6-1 Blue Streaks.

A second goal from Ginsberg made it 7-1 John Carroll, but Capital quickly responded with three goals of their own to cut the Blue Streak lead to 7-4.

However, the Blue Streaks finished the half strong thanks to scores from Carly Ross, Lainey Donalson, and a fourth score from Grombala to make it a 10-4 halftime lead.

The second half was relatively even as both teams fought successfully and traded goals with one another.

Grombala's fifth goal of the game opened up the scoring in the second half and was quickly countered by a Capital goal, resulting in an 11-5 score.

Grombala scored her sixth goal of the game but was once again countered by another Crusader goal to make it 12-6.

Olivia Hanulak responded with her lone score of the game, but Capital never wavered as they retaliated with a three-goal rally to reduce the JCU lead to 13-9.

The Crusader rally was stopped after Grombala netted her seventh score of the game, making the score 14-9.

After another Capital goal, Lainey Donalson scored her second goal of the game and was swiftly followed by an eighth goal from Grombala to make it 16-10.

Capital would score one more goal with about two minutes to go, but it was too little too late as Grombala scored a remarkable ninth goal to end the game with a 17-11 final score, improving the Blue Streaks to 6-0.

Because JCU's last three wins have come against some of the best the OAC has to offer, Head Coach Rachel Dell praised her team's strong efforts over the past few weeks. "The last four games have been hard for us as we faced the other top three teams in the OAC back-to-back-to-back," she said. "We had to manage our players' rest to keep them fresh. It's mentally trying to stay focused against tough competition for two weeks straight."

Saturday's game was another example of John Carroll dominating the stat book as they outshot their opponent 45-32, finished with ten more ground balls, won 24/30 draw controls, and converted five free-position shots.

Colleen Grombala was the star performer, finishing with nine points on the day (all of which were goals). "Faceguarding Colleen opens up looks for other players," Dell said. "Today, she just happened to beat the faceguard and come up with possession often." 

Grombala was complemented by the likes of Jenna Ginsberg with four points (two goals, two assists), Lainey Donalson with two points (two goals), and Olivia Hanulak finished with two points as well in her first college start (one goal, one assist).

Defensively, there were many standouts, including Mary Doherty in the midfield, Molly Carroll working in the back, and Kaleigh Kotula handling the resilient Capital attack the entire day.

"Mary was huge for us in the midfield with her draws, ground balls, and caused turnovers," the veteran coach went on to say. "We would have been stuck playing a lot more defense if it wasn't for her work-horse mindset around loose balls." "Molly was a wall on defense today, and Kaleigh came up with numerous great saves throughout the game."

The 17-11 win was the second in school history against Capital and was the first regulation win for the Blue and Gold over the Crusaders ever. The last victory was a 12-11 overtime win on March 24, 2018.

The Blue Streaks will be back in action on Wednesday, March 17 as they hit the road to take on Marietta at 7 p.m.
 
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