Story Courtesy of Eastern Michigan Athletic Communications
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Seven players scored goals, including hat tricks from Mackenzie Blackwell and Kelsey Dague, to help the Eastern Michigan University lacrosse team to a 14-11 home victory over visiting Lindenwood University Wednesday afternoon inside the Indoor Practice Facility in Ypsilanti. The Eagles (2-1) are off to their best start after opening each of the last seasons with 1-2 records as they used balanced scoring to grab the win in their first meeting with the Lions (0-2).
How It Happened
Eastern came out hot in the first quarter and took a 3-0 lead by the midway point with Katheryn Wilson (Dacula, Ga./Mill Creek) getting the scoring started as she whistled a free-position shot into the cage for 1-0 lead. Blackwell (North Beach, Md./Northern) followed with a pair of goals with her first coming off an assist from Wilson before she drove in on her own and scored her second. Despite the lead, the Eagles found themselves down early in the second quarter as the Lions scored three goals to close out the opening stanza before netting a free-position goal and a 4-3 lead with 13:51 to play in the second. Eastern responded with four consecutive goals to reclaim the lead with the run started by Dague (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield), who was assisted by Blackwell, before Wilson, on a pass from Emerson Henry (Ashburn, Ontario/Donald A. Wilson), lit the lamp for second.
Freshman Emma Reichert (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) was up next and hammered home a shot with 3:25 remaining to record her first collegiate goal and first career point with Henry following one minute later for a woman-up goal. The visitors scored with three seconds showing in quarter to send the game to halftime with the Eagles on top, 7-5. Following the break, LU capped a three-goal streak that saw it knot the score at 7-7 with 13:22 to play in the third. Eastern responded with another four-goal run of its own, this time with Mak Grisinger (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington/Central Michigan) finding the back of the net off a feed from Blackwell. Dague followed with back-to-back goals with her first assisted by Reagan Riemer (Perry Hall, Md./Notre Dame Preparatory Academy), who tallied her first career point, before Dague scored unassisted to record her first hat trick since April 14, 2024, against Central Michigan. Blackwell collected her 33rd career hat trick and third of the season as she tallied on a pass from Henry before LU answered 35 seconds later to make it 11-8 EMU heading into the fourth.
In the final stanza, the Lions opened with a goal that started a back-and-forth scoring run for both sides as Blackwell scored her fourth before LU responded with a goal at 5:54. Reichert doubled her career goal total with her second, this time off a free-position shot before the Lions scored once again with 2:20 to play. With 1:10 to go, Kyleigh Dill (Dover, Del./Dover) found herself alone in front of the cage and scored on the woman-up advantage to net her first goal since March 1, 2025, against Canisus to put the game to bed, 14-11, for EMU.
