Falcons Rally to Sting the Hornets in Overtime

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's lacrosse team came out on top of an exciting contest on Thursday afternoon. The Falcons opened the home portion of the schedule with a 16-15 overtime victory.

The Falcons started the scoring 26 seconds into the game off the stick of freshman Katelyn Cardinale (Mount Laurel, N.J.) with a shot in front of the net.

The Hornets scored the next two goals to take the lead.

Senior Bela Noyle (Baltimore, Md.) cut through a pair of defenders and found the back of the net to tie the game with 4:30 left in the first quarter.

The Orange and Black scored a minute later to retake the lead.

Sophomore Brenna Bieniek (Shakopee, Minn.) beat the shot clock with a sharp-angled shot for the first collegiate goal of her career to send the teams into the second quarter tied at three.

The Hornets stung the Falcons with five goals in the first 10 minutes of the second quarter.

Katelyn Cardinale stopped the skid with a goal on a free-position shot.

The Falcons then marched down the field and sophomore Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) blasted a shot in off an assist from Bela Noyle.

Kalamazoo scored on a free position shot before junior Eliana Fuchs (Brookfield, Wis.) scored the scoring before halftime after she stole the ball and buzzed down the field on a breakaway.

The Falcons trailed at halftime, 6-9.

Katelyn Cardinale started the scoring in the third quarter with the Falcons up a player.

Junior Savannah Schweiger (Eagle, Wis.) scored on a free position shot to cut the deficit to 10-8.

Junior Olivia Niego (La Grange, Ill.) crashed the net when she split a pair of defenders to score with 11 seconds left in the third quarter to head to the final quarter trailing, 11-9.

Eliana Fuchs started the fourth-quarter scoring on a free position shot 40 seconds into the quarter.

A minute later, Katelyn Cardinale found freshman Ella Maltby (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) and Maltby tied the game on a bounce shot.

The visitors from Michigan scored the next two goals to retake the lead at 13-12.

A free position shot from Savannah Schweiger tied the game at 13 with 5:07 left.

Things looked gloomy for the birds when the Hornets went up 15-13 with 1:37 remaining in the game, but the Falcons could not be slowed down by the rain, the snow, the ice or by the Hornets on Thursday.

Elianna Fuchs won the draw control and Katelyn Cardinale connected on a free-position shot.

The Falcons needed the ball and they got it with a draw control for Eliana Fuchs. The Falcons gave up the ball off a shot, but Kami McCardle stole back the ball and tied the game with 23 seconds left.

The Hornet had a chance to win in regulation but the Falcons did not allow a shot.

Concordia held an 8-3 advantage in draw controls in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons won possession of the ball to start overtime with a draw control for Brenna Bieniek.

The Blue and White did not connect on their first shot but a turnover for Bela Noyle gave the birds back the ball Kami McCardle crashed the net wide-open and ended the game.

The Hornets finished with 36 turnovers on Thursday. Bela Noyle caused eight turnovers in the victory and led the birds with nine ground balls.

Eliana Fuchs had five draw controls and Brenna Bieniek finished with four.

Katelyn Cardinale led the flock with a career-high five points on four goals and an assist.

Kami McCardle tied her career high with three goals.

The Falcons had a 42-30 advantage in shots on Thursday. Kami McCardle led Concordia with eight shots.

Sophomore Sydney Dyba (Crown Point, Ind.) collected seven saves in the victory.

The victory was the first overtime victory for the Falcons since 2019 against Concordia Chicago.

CUW looks to keep the good times rolling on Saturday against Beloit.