GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After opening conference play in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) at home against the Marian University Knights, the Madonna University Crusaders (1-5) ventured across the state to face an in-state WHAC opponent in the (RV) Aquinas College Saints (4-1). Despite it seeming like an incredibly one-sided affair early on, the Crusaders overcame the adversity that comes with facing a nationally-ranked team and fought until the final seconds. Even with their best efforts though, Aquinas would come out with the 20-6 win over Madonna.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Saints proved why they are receiving votes nationally as they outplayed the Crusaders in every statistical category in the first half. The lone Crusader goal came from junior Mia Dyson, the Crusader's second-leading scorer. The transfer from Keiser University marked her ninth goal as a Crusader to put Madonna on the board before halftime. Madonna entered the break trailing 12-1.

As the Crusaders found themselves in a women-up situation in the third period's opening minute, senior captain and leading-scorer Aria Gettel took advantage, scoring her 17th goal of the season. Her goal would release the Saints' penalized player making it an even game. However, Dyson was still able to take advantage as she dodged her way to her second goal of the game before the Saints knew what was happening. 

The Crusaders managed to hold off the Saints from scoring in the next minutes as they continued their run. Following a clutch save from goalie Hannah Dickson, sophomore midfielder Katie Potter cleared it and swung a swift pass to Gettel who did the rest. Driving straight to the net, Gettel punched in her second goal of the day, cutting the Crusader deficit back to single-digits. With just under eight minutes to play in the third, the Crusaders were back in the game with a score of 13-4.

The Crusader run was cut short by a Saints' goal at the four-minute mark of the third period. They would seemingly shut down Madonna from here on out as the rest of the game played out much similarly to the first half. The Crusaders would manage to get on the board twice more before the buzzer hit zero, first as senior Courtney Hoeland set up sophomore Sydney Pattinson with a nice assist to put Pattinson in position to score her second goal of the season.

Even with the game now out of reach, the Crusaders didn't give up. With twenty-six seconds remaining, Dyson would continue playing through the whistle as she fought her way to her third goal of the day off of a smooth assist from freshman Rianna O'Connor. Despite Dyson and the rest of the Crusaders' efforts, Aquinas would go on to win 20-6 as Madonna fell to 0-2 in conference play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
 

• Dyson shot 100%, going 3-of-3 and securing her second hat-trick of the season.
• Gettel led the Crusaders with three caused turnovers in addition to her two goals.
• Dickson had seven saves as the goalie.

UP NEXT

Conference play will continue for the Crusaders as they head back home to face the Bethel University (Ind.) Pilots (5-2) on Saturday, March 25th at 4:00 pm.

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