Women's lacrosse team crushes Occidental

Despite freezing wind blasting across Wildcat Field Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats rolled over Occidental College 18-1.

Though the temperature dropped, Arizona (5-0) continued to heat up.

Team captain Jessica Deal scored twice before Occidental even had a shot on goal.

Occidental's lone shot of the first half produced its only goal of the game. After that goal at 23:40, Occidental never threatened Arizona's goal again.

"They came out with a lot of heart," Deal said of Occidental.

But heart means little when a team doesn't score.

Deal scored again to give Arizona a 3-1 lead, and then the floodgates opened.

Four different Wildcats scored in the span of the next four minutes, including Erin Bradbury, Amy Folkemer, Heather Kalmbach and Sarah Schier.

Schier added her second goal to give Arizona an 8-1 lead, and, just 18 seconds later, Alisha Kowalewski put the ball in the net.

Up 9-1 with 12:30 remaining in the first half, senior Susan Dodd, who just returned to the team after not attending UA last semester, scored two goals of her own.

"I was just hoping to catch the ball today," Dodd said. "I've played for four years and I've never had a goal before."

Three more Arizona goals, including Deal's fourth of the day, gave the Wildcats a 14-1 lead at halftime.

"Not at all," Dodd said when asked if she thought the game was too lopsided. "The other team kept it up until the very end. They had no coach, no substitutes, but they never gave up."

Deal said the game was beneficial to Arizona, as it gave the Wildcats the opportunity to work on "the basics," such as passing, goaltending and setting plays and defensive traps.

Arizona takes a couple of weekends off before traveling to face Claremont and Whittier March 28 and 29. The Wildcats return home April 11 to play UCLA.