ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's lacrosse team flirted with visiting Whittier College all night before handing the Poets a 12-8 defeat at Wilson Field on Wednesday. Every time Whittier got close, the Panthers pulled away resulting in their fifth consecutive win of the season.

Chapman (6-3 overall, 4-3 SCIAC) has now won four consecutive conference games and is locked in a three-way tie for second place in the SCIAC standings.

The Panthers led from start to finish, but never quite put away the pesky Poets. It was a five-goal scoring outburst by Chapman midway through the second half that gave the Panthers enough of a cushion, including four goals in just 2:59. A fifth goal at the 9:22 mark – the third of the game for freshman M Becka Wachtel – gave Chapman a 12-4 lead, but Whittier closed the game with four straight goals to cut the deficit in half.

Chapman had led 5-1 in the first half when Whittier scored twice to get within two. The Panthers then led 7-3 at halftime before the Poets scored the first goal of the second half with 21:38 remaining to cut the lead to three until Chapman went on to score five in a row.

Four Panthers scored three goals on Wednesday: Wachtel, junior M Brooke Martini, junior A Kylee Moore and sophomore A Gretchen Rodenberger, who also added a pair of assists.

Chapman travels to first-place Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, looking to avenge a 10-9 loss to the Sagehens in Orange back in February. After another road game at Occidental, the Panthers close out the regular season with 'Senior Night' against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at Wilson Field on April 18 at 7 p.m.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

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