Firebirds Show Fight in Spirited Senior Day Season Finale Loss vs. Molloy

WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia women's lacrosse team was defeated, 19-13 by East Coast Conference foe Molloy College on Sunday afternoon at Georgetown University's Cooper Field despite a spirited effort on the Firebirds' Senior Day.

Before the start of the game, UDC honored the five seniors on the Firebirds' roster – three of whom have been with the team since the program's inception in 2014. Three-year veterans Andreya Bryson, Amber Walls, and Cherakye Lopez, and two-year team members Nancy Cerros and Muriel Hamilton, were announced during a short ceremony and greeted with flowers.

The 3^rd year program's all-time leading scorer, senior midfielder Amber Walls, set new individual school records for points scored in a game (8) and goals scored in a game (7), and she tied the record for goals scored in a half (four). With her seven goals today, the converted UDC volleyball student-athlete ends her three-year lacrosse career with 50 goals scored. Walls also registered a game-high eight draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers in her final game as a Firebird this afternoon.

The Firebirds as a team, set a new program record for goals scored vs. NCAA Division II opponents with 13. Also, UDC had its largest lead vs. a Division II opponent when it raced out to a 4-0 lead to start today's action.

Other Firebirds who entered the scoring column were freshman Vanessa Valentine and junior Aaliyah Carter. Valentine scored four goals, registered game-highs of four caused turnovers and four ground balls, and won four draw controls. She ends her impressive rookie campaign with 19 points on 18 goals and one assist. Carter scored the Firebirds' 1^st and 3^rd goals of the afternoon in a span of less than seven minutes, but had a very premature exit with 9:02 remaining in the first half when she was whistled for two yellow cards in a span of 1:09.

Junior goalkeeper Dani Falco stopped eight of 27 shots faced in a complete game effort. Seven of her eight saves came in the second half. The three-year captain finishes her junior campaign with 99 saves and will enter her final season next year with 280 career saves.

Molloy, needing a win to clinch an ECC Tournament berth, erased a 4-0 deficit that lingered midway through the first half by scoring eight straight goals. The Lions closed out the half on an 11-2 run to take an 11-6 lead at halftime, and they would lead by as many as eight three separate times in the second half.

The Lions (11-6, 5-3 ECC) featured nine different goal scorers, including midfielder Katie O'Brien with a team-best six points on four goals and two assists. Fellow midfielders Brianna Wilson and Arianna Cavallone each added three goals and one assist, and Cooper Sesselman pitched in two goals and two assists.

Goalkeeper Alyssa Chetti earned the win in goal with six saves on 16 shots faced. She came in to relieve Caroline Winters 6:20 into the game after Winters allowed three goals on four shots.

Molloy out-shot UDC, 38-24 and put 27 shots on goal compared to UDC's 20, but otherwise the game was statistically pretty even. The Firebirds did commit five more turnovers (23-18), but they also edged the Lions in draw controls (17-16), were more effective with free position shots (5-of-8 to 4-of-7), and had 14 less fouls (39-25). The Lions were a bit better on clear attempts, with 13-of-20 successful clears to UDC's 9-of-19.

UDC's 2016 season comes to a close with a final overall record of 1-13 and 0-8 in the ECC. The Firebirds, under head coach Melynda Brown, are 1-35 overall and 0-23 in the ECC in the program's three seasons. Brown's teams the past three years lose by an average of 15.5 goals per-game in league play, with today's six-goal loss being the first league loss by under 10.