Alan Babbitt

Box Score

Hope HOPE 12-6

Denison DENW1 10-10

Hope HOPE

12-6

Final

May. 12, 2023

Denison DENW1

10-10

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Hope HOPE	3	2	1	4	10
Denison DENW1	5	3	5	5	18

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse | 5/12/2023 9:52:00 PM | Alan Babbitt

Women's Lacrosse Battles Denison in NCAA Championships Before Losing

While the result of the first NCAA Division III Championships appearance didn't go the Hope College women's lacrosse team's way, head coach Keagan Pontious could not have been prouder.

The Flying Dutch lost to perennial North Coast Athletic Conference power Denison University (Ohio), 18-10, on Friday in first-round play at the University of Chicago.

Denison, seeking its fifth consecutive trip to the Sweet 16, advanced to face 17th-ranked Chicago in the second round on Saturday, May 13.

Hope ended the most successful season in program history with a 12-6 record. The Flying Dutch earned their first MIAA regular-season and tournament titles this spring.

"We knew it was going to be a fight walking into that game. They have an army of 35. We have 20 girls with a lot of heart," Pontious said. "I don't mean that lightly. That's what we've been riding on all season — how much we love each other and actually support each other on and off the field. That was the reason we were able to give them a game."

The first 7 ½ minutes of the game featured three lead changes and two tie scores.

Denison (10-10 overall) scored five of six goals over a span of 12 ½ minutes to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead 34 seconds into the second quarter.

Juniors Molly Frederickson (Alto, Michigan / Lowell) and Elena Salazar (Howell, Michigan / Hartland) scored 10 seconds apart to pull the Flying Dutch within a goal at the 11:45 mark.

Hope would not score the remainder of the first half and trailed 8-5 at halftime.

Denison, the NCAC Tournament champion and a 24-time national championships qualifier, then opened the second half with three consecutive goals to extend its lead to 11-5 at the 7:41 mark.

Eleven different goal-scorers powered Denison. No one had more than three.

Denison outscored Hope, 5-1, in the second half. Goalkeeper Caroline O'Dea came up big for Denison with five of her 12 saves during the third quarter.

Salazar and freshman Julia Brown (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Central) topped Hope with four goals apiece.

Frederickson and sophomore Kerrigan Brown (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) each scored for the Flying Dutch.

Salazar, Hope's all-time leading goal scorer, now has a school-record 150 goals for her career

Junior goalkeeper Maddie Yakes (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford) made seven saves for the Flying Dutch and became Hope's career leader with 337.

With so much talent returning next season — only senior defenders Delaney Kirinovic (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) and Shannon Lampi (Mundelein, Illinois / Mundelein) are graduating — the Flying Dutch are optimistic heading into the offseason after their first NCAA Championships appearance.

Kirinovic, the MIAA's Defensive Player of the Year, is excited about what the Flying Dutch have built during her time as a lacrosse student-athlete.

"It's cool to see how much the program has grown from Coach and all of the players," Kirinovic said. "All the players when I came on as a freshman impacted me and my fellow senior (Shannon). It's allowed us to grow and contribute so much.

"There's not one person on the field you would doubt or question. Everyone you could guess had four years of experience. You can't tell what grade or age anyone is because everyone contributes so much and is so selfless and plays like they've been on the college level for four years.

"I feel so confident there's so much good depth and personality," Kirinovic said. "We always talk about how character is the biggest contributor to our team. Just knowing we're leaving behind such a good legacy of such strong girls who are amazing people and care so much about each other is a cool thing to see."

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