Courtesy of Hamline University
MEQUON, Wis. -- It's a story that Hollywood might not even buy. A second-year program goes into an established league and makes the playoffs. They win one game but fall behind 5-0 to the league co-champs on their field. Then the team rallied to eventually take a lead, give it up and appear to be headed for overtime. Suddenly, their top scorer finds an opening and scored the winning goal with four seconds remaining to send the new kids on the block to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
That, in a nutshell, is what has happened to the Hamline University women's lacrosse team. The Pipers capped an amazing run with a 10-9 victory over Concordia University Wisconsin Saturday in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament Championship game in Mequon. Dana Almquist's fourth goal of the game -- and 69th of the season -- was the winning blow to send coach Karen Heggernes and the Pipers to the NCAA Tournament.
The Pipers, now 15-4 overall, will find out who they play Sunday night.
The last time these teams met, Concordia pulled away in the second half for a 15-8 win. This time, the Falcons started fast, grabbing a 5-0 lead in the first 15 1/2 minutes of play. HU responded with five of their own tallies in a span of slightly over five minutes to knot the game. Dani Perry and Almquist each got two and Radian Lenz added the other one. CUW scored late in the half and led 6-5 at intermission. Perry, Brayden Maass and Lexus Tatge made it 8-6 for Hamline in the second half but the Falcons retied the game at 8 with 10:37 left. Almquist put HU ahead only to see the Falcons tie things at nine with 7:19 left. Concordia attacked some more but goalie Molly Dionne (who recorded 11 saves) and a horde of defenders kept the Falcons at bay.
HU got possession of the ball in the last 30 seconds of regulation time and quickly went on the attack. Almquist then drove home the winner on a free position shot to send Hamline to the NCAA tournament. The Pipers will found where they stand in the 40-team field when the Division III selections are announced on Sunday, May 7 at 8:30 p.m. CDT.