Women's Lacrosse Drops Home Game to Ottawa

Marshall, Mo., (Mar. 15, 2025)- The Missouri Valley College women's lacrosse team hosted Ottawa (Kan.), in a Heart of America Athletic Conference contest, Saturday afternoon, inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium. The Vikings fell by a final score of 22-9.

The game started with both teams trading possession over the first six minutes, which included two shots from Sophomore Attacker Hailey Davis (Maryville, Tenn.) and two saves in goal from Senior Goalkeeper Melissa Sandoval (Weiser, Idaho). Missouri Valley eventually opened the scoreboard near the nine-minute mark, as Freshman Midfielder Ava Graham (Pearland, Texas) put a free position shot into the net, 1-0. Ottawa answered back with a goal quickly after the draw control to tie the game, 1-1. Junior Defender Kathryn Bonning (Southampton, England) had a shot with six minutes left, but the Braves scored another goal to take the lead with five minutes to play in the first quarter, 2-1. Freshman Ashley Halter (Alcoa, Tenn.) tied the game with a goal on a free position shot near the 3-minute mark. Ottawa responded, recording two more goals over the next two minutes to hold a 4-2 advantage. Missouri Valley had a late goal from Senior Alexis Lark (Alma, Mo.) to keep the scoreboard close at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter began with an early goal by the Braves, just under a minute of the restart, to make it a 5-3 score. Ottawa started to pull away from there as they scored three goals over the next three minutes extending their lead, 8-3. Missouri Valley created some chances over the next stretch of play and eventually scored as Freshman Midfielder Tiyanna Thomas (Hampton, Ga.) assisted Halter to cut the deficit down to 8-4 midway through the quarter. The Vikings added a goal from Sophomore Attacker Atleigh Lark (Alma, Mo.) just past the three-minute mark to close the gap to 8-5. However, the Braves answered back less than one minute later, scoring three late goals in the final stretch of the quarter, to send MVC into halftime trailing, 11-5.

Scoring in the third quarter started early as Thomas set up H. Davis with a goal just one minute after the restart, and MVC sat in an 11-6 deficit. Ottawa came through with a goal nearly two minutes later and continued to increase its lead adding two more goals holding a 14-6 advantage. H. Davis scored to end the Braves run with just four minutes into play. Teams traded points over the next seven minutes, which included three shots on goal from the Vikings, but Ottawa had a goal with four minutes left to play. Missouri Valley got that goal back as Halter scored quickly after the draw control to make it a 15-8 score, but the Braves added three more goals before the end of the quarter to stay in front, 18-8. The opening goal of the fourth quarter came from Ottawa nearly four minutes into play, and the Braves continued to pull away, adding three more goals in the final nine minutes of play. Halter had a late goal for the Vikings, but the team fell by a final score of 22-9.

Halter led with four goals and two assists, followed by H. Davis with two goals. Alexis Lark, Graham and Atleigh Lark added a goal each, while Thomas had two assists. Freshman Audrey Connolly (Houston, Texas) made eight saves in goal. Missouri Valley forced 17 turnovers, won 18 draw controls and came up with 15 ground balls.

Missouri Valley drops to 1-5 on the season and 0-3 in the conference, while Ottawa improves to 4-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

Up next, the women's lacrosse team will host Missouri Baptist (Mo.), for a Heart match Wednesday, March 19 at 4 p.m., inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.

Box Score - Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.