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#BeStrongBeTrue
Four Hope College women's lacrosse seniors pose for portraits.
Alan Babbitt
Pictured, from left, Kerrigan Brown, Juli Kirkpatrick, Cara Anderson and Mia Skibins
5
Albion ALBION 4-10, 2-4
18
Winner Hope HOPE 9-5, 5-0
Albion ALBION
4-10, 2-4
5
Final
18
Hope HOPE
9-5, 5-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Albion ALBION 0 2 2 1 5
Hope HOPE 11 1 2 4 18

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse | | Greg Chandler

Women's Lacrosse Celebrates Seniors, Marches Past Albion

Senior Juli Kirkpatrick becomes Hope College's seventh 100-goal scorer

The Hope College women's lacrosse team rode the leadership of its senior class Saturday afternoon as the Flying Dutch rolled to an 18-5 Senior Day victory over Albion College at Van Andel Soccer Stadium.

Hope improved to 5-0 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play and 9-5 overall with the win, while the Britons fell to 2-4 in the MIAA and 4-10 overall. 

The Flying Dutch have now won 22 consecutive MIAA regular-season games. Hope's last league loss was to Albion on April 19, 2022, three years ago to the day.

Hope honored its seniors – attacker Kerrigan Brown (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt HS), attacker Juli Kirkpatrick (Granger, Indiana / Mishawaka Penn), defender Mia Skibins (Granger, Indiana / Mishawaka Penn) and team manager Cara Anderson (Adrian, Michigan / Lenawee Christian) – prior to the game.

"Our seniors are definitely amazing. We're going to miss them," head coach Keagan Pieri said after the game. "We love them very much. They do a lot for us on and off the field. It's super-exciting to put together another conference win and celebrate them. It's nice to have KJ [Brown] and Juli on the attacking side and Mimi [Skibins] on the defensive side, holding down the fort for us."

Hope wasted little time in seizing control of the contest. 

Freshman attacker Elliana Hillard (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) struck for three goals in the game's first six minutes and six seconds. Kirkpatrick scored twice and assisted on two other goals, and junior midfielder Sydney LaPrairie (Rochester, Michigan / Stoney Creek) scored twice in 40 seconds as the Flying Dutch scored 11 goals on 12 shots in the first quarter, taking an 11-0 lead.

"We've been talking about starting out really strong in order to set the standard forward into the second half, and I think we've been doing that," Pieri said. "It's been good to see us win the draw and score a goal [right away]."

Hope led 12-2 at halftime and 14-4 after three quarters.

Hillard scored a career-high four goals, while junior attacker Julia Brown (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Central) also scored four times for the Flying Dutch. Julia Brown now has 55 goals on the season, giving her three of the four highest goal-scoring seasons in program history. She scored a school-record 65 goals last season.

Kirkpatrick, Hope's career leader in assists, had a big day with three goals and two assists for five points. Her fourth-quarter goal was the 100th of her career, making her the seventh in program history to score 100 career goals.

LaPrairie, junior midfielder Caleigh Randall (Lansing, Michigan / DeWitt) and junior midfielder Stella Bottum (Alto, Michigan / Caledonia) each had a pair of goals. Bottum caused five turnovers and scooped up a team-high six ground balls. Kerrigan Brown added a goal, two assists and four ground balls.

Junior goalkeeper Samantha Smith (Westfield, Indiana/Westfield) made five saves in goal.
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