– Photo by Jordan Jacobo/Review staff writer/photographer

Matt Jonathan

For the Review

An unbelievable comeback is the trademark of inspirational stories.

The Linfield women’s lacrosse team wrote one April 9 against Pacific University after coming back from seven goals down at halftime to steal the game, 16-15.

The Wildcats scored 13 goals in the second half to snatch their third win of the season.

Pacific went into halftime with a comfortable   10-3 lead, but when the second half began, the ’Cats were an offensive force. Linfield excelled during the second half, laying waste to the Boxers’ goal.

Junior Sammy Smith led the way for the Wildcats with five goals. Freshman Melissa DePierro also netted five, including a sensational solo effort starting at half field to win the game with less than three minutes to go.

Junior Michelle Dorris had four goals and two assists.

“This was a great morale booster for us,” freshman Monique Schreiber said. “I’m really happy that we won.”

The team headed to Missouri for three games in three days against       Lindenwood University on April 4, Missouri Baptist College on April 5, and then a rematch of the early-season thriller against Fontbonne University on April 6. Linfield returned to McMinnville with one win and two losses.

The ’Cats faced off against the Lindenwood Lions for their first game and fell,    18-3. Lindenwood is ranked ninth in the NCAA Division II. After taking a half time lead of 8-1, the Lions came out with even more attacking flair, scoring 10 goals to Linfield’s two. Freshman Tarie Caouette scored two goals for the ’Cats, with Smith grabbing one. 

On day two, the Wildcats took the fight to the Missouri Baptist College, defeating the Spartans, 16-10. Five ’Cats scored on the night with Caouette slotting home five goals.

Dorris and DePierro netted four goals each, Smith had two goals and sophomore Claire Carter rounded off the scoring with one. Linfield held a narrow two-point lead at halftime, but broke away in the second half.

In the final game of their Missouri trip, the ‘Cats faced off against Fontbonne University, whom they had played at Linfield earlier in the season. In that thriller, Fontbonne edged Linfield by a goal in overtime, and the ’Cats had revenge on their minds April 6.

Linfield couldn’t match their play from the first meeting, and the Griffins beat the Wildcats, 13-7. Fontbonne jumped to an early two-goal lead before Caouette cut the lead in half. Fontbonne would score twice more when Linfield rallied back with three goals to tie the game with four wins each.

The Griffins took an 8-5 lead at halftime. Dorris grabbed two more goals in the second half, the last Linfield would score in the game. Junior Rebecca Levy had 10 saves in goal.

The team was positive after its trip.

“We played well at times,” Carter said. “We got pretty tired during the last game so we didn’t do our best.”

Linfield looks to repeat it’s dominant play against the University of Puget Sound on April 12 at 1 p.m. when the Loggers come to Linfield.