Women’s lacrosse team continues to dominate season

The OU women’s lacrosse team was victorious in four scheduled games this week and remains undefeated, raising their record to 7-0.

On Thursday night at Ultimate Sports Arena in Pontiac, the Golden Grizzlies defeated Saginaw Valley State University 25-7. Senior midfielder Vera Pattah scored five goals while freshman Vittoria Wallace scored four times, including a transition goal that spanned the entire length of the field.

The team broke a close game wide open in the first half, holding the Cardinals scoreless for the final 16 minutes and scoring 11 unanswered goals to lead at halftime, 15-3.

Oakland continued to score at will in the second half and dominated the flow of the game with their possession and rapid passing. The Grizzlies went on a 7-1 run at the start of the half and kept the pressure on the Cardinals, who had no answer.

The women had three more games scheduled on Saturday and continued to be successful. They defeated West Virginia University 16-4 in the early game and followed up with a 16-9 victory over Grove City College. The final game was scheduled to be versus Penn State Behrend College, but Penn State withdrew because of spring break. Carnegie-Mellon was put in their place but failed to show up. They forfeited to OU with a score of 1-0.

An important season game for the team will be this Thursday night when Central Michigan University comes to Pontiac. CMU is also undefeated this year, and OU women know how much is at stake with this game.

“It’s a rival game; it always has been for the four years I have taken over the program,” head coach Towbey Kassa said. “It’s going to be intense. It’s whoever wins the game, wins the division.”

The Grizzlies are going for their fourth consecutive divisional title and are focused solely on the monumental challenge that CMU will bring in this winner-takes-all game.

“That game basically is our national championship game,” Kassa said. “We’re going to come out full speed ahead.”