EUGENE, Ore. (EMUEagles.com) -- Kelsea Dague netted a hat trick that included the game-winning goal, Tracy Grollman scored four points to bring her career total to 100, and Maddy Porter and the defense allowed just two goals in the second half to help the Eastern Michigan University lacrosse team score a 12-9 win over the University of Oregon at Pape Field in Eugene, Ore., Feb. 22. The Eagles (4-2), who tied for the best start in program history with the 2025 squad, knocked off a 'Power 4' team for the first time in program history by defeating the Ducks (3-2) of the Big Ten Conference.
How It Happened
The Eagles opened the scoring just 1:02 into the contest as Roya Khaleeli (Rancho Palo Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) found the back of the net for her second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. The Ducks responded with three consecutive goals to build a 3-1 lead with 9:43 to play before Grollman (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis Area Christian School) scored after getting in behind the defense as Karly Low (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary) hit her in stride with a pass to make it 3-2. Emerson Henry (Ashburn, Ontario/Donald A. Wilson) followed with a quick shot from the top of the fan to knot the game at 3-3 before Oregon scored twice more in the final minutes to claim a 5-3 lead through one.
Trailing by two, the Eagles cut into the deficit quickly as Mackenzie Blackwell (North Beach, Md./Northern) backed up a missed shot, circled toward the goal and fired into the top corner to make it 5-4. After Oregon scored to bring its lead back to two goals, Dague (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) scored her first as she bounced in a shot before Grollman dunked an alley-oop pass from Kyleigh Dill (Dover, Del./Dover) on the woman-up advantage to tie the score at 6-6 with 7:21 to play. Dill followed with a free-position goal while a woman-up to reclaim the lead for the first time since it was 1-0, but the Ducks would tie the score 30 seconds later. Blackwell put the visitors back in front as she finished off a pass from Khaleeli with 3:50 to play in the half as she tied her career high in points with the assist. Then, with 29 seconds remaining in the stanza, Henry snagged her second goal as Grollman found her open in front of the goal to put Eastern ahead, 9-7, at the halftime break.
After 16 goals were scored in the first half, only two were scored in the third quarter with Oregon netting twice to tie the game at 9-9 heading into the fourth. In the final stanza, the Eagles flipped the script from the third and shut out the Ducks while adding three goals to bring about the 12-9 final. Dague got the scoring started as she went low with 12:12 to play to not only tally what would stand as the game-winning goal but also end a run of 18:17 without a goal in the game. The drought made way for quick goals as Eastern would make it a two-score lead just 29 seconds later as Stella Burke (Peterborough, Ontario/St. Peter's Catholic Secondary) scored from close range as Grollman tallied her second assist of the contest. After both teams went back and forth with saved shots and turnovers, the Eagles took control and worked to run the final two minutes of the clock out. With 23 seconds to play, Burke tallied her first goal of the day with Dague finding her wide open in front of an empty net to score the final goal of the contest.
Individual Notes
» Kelsea Dague scored a hat trick, her third of 2026 and the fifth of her career, to lead the EMU offense. Her third goal of the game stood as the game-winning score, the third of her career, which tied for the second-most in program history.
» Tracy Grollman recorded four points on two goals and two assists to bring her career total to 100 points, making her only the second player in program history to reach the century mark. Grollman, who recorded her sixth career game with multiple goals and multiple assists in the same contest, tied her season-high in points she set at Marquette in the opener. Her ninth career game with multiple assists, she brought her career total to 42 helpers, leaving her three shy of the program record of 45 set by Avery Schwab (2023-25).
» Mackenzie Blackwell added two goals in the victory to bring her season total to 18. She has now scored multiple goals in 43-of-54 career games and 5-of-6 games played this year. Additionally, she brought her career point total to 184, leaving 16 away from becoming the first EMU player to reach 200.
» Emerson Henry recorded her first multiple-goal game of the season as she netted two scores. Henry, who led the team with four draw controls, scored multiple goals for the first time since the final six games of the 2025 season to give her 10 career games with at least two goals scored. Of those 10 games, she tallied at least two goals and four draw controls in nine.
» Stella Burke and Kyleigh Dill both finished with two points on one goal and one assist. It marked the second time this season and in her career that Burke tallied one of each offensive stat after first doing so at Marquette. Dill's point total saw her record her first assist of the season and the sixth of her career.
» Roya Khaleeli tallied two points on one goal and one assist to mark the first time in her career she has recorded at least one of each in the same game. Her point total tied her career high as well, marking the fifth time she has hit the mark and first time since the April 20, 2025, home game against Akron.
» Karly Low recorded her first point of the year as last week's Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week assisted on Tracy Grollman's first goal of the day while adding a team-high three ground balls and one caused turnover. The assist and point are the second of Low's career after she recorded one assist last year in the home game with Oregon (April 11, 2025).
» Maddy Porter (Montrose, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) posted nine saves, one ground ball, and one caused turnover in the victory over Oregon. Her ground ball marked the 150th of her career, making her the first player in program history to reach the milestone mark after becoming the first to reach 100 as well.
Team Notes
» With the win, Eastern improved to 4-2 while Oregon dropped to 3-2. The Eagles improved to 1-2 on the road as well.
» The Eagles have tied the program record for best record through six games at 4-2. The record was set by the 2025 team.
» The win marked the first in program history over a 'Power 4' program (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC) after having lost the previous seven. The Eagles had previously played Cincinnati of the Big 12 (0-1), Big Ten foes Michigan (0-3) and Oregon (1-1), and the ACC's Notre Dame (0-2).
» Eastern improved to 1-1 all-time against Oregon and 1-0 when playing in Eugene. The visiting team has won each game with the Ducks taking a 13-11 win in Ypsilanti in the first meeting (April 11, 2025).
» The Eagles scored six goals in the second quarter to take a 9-7 into halftime. The six goals tied for the sixth-highest total in a single quarter in program history with the record standing at seven (five times).
» Seven players scored at least one goal in the game, marking the third time it has happened and the first on the road. The previous two instances came at home against Lindenwood (Feb. 11) and Xavier (Feb. 14).
» The nine goals allowed to the Ducks tied for the seventh-lowest total permitted in a road game in program history. Additionally, the goals permitted in the second half tied for the third-fewest allowed in the second half of any game in Eastern history, equaling the two scored by Xavier (Feb. 14), while tying for the fifth-fewest in any half of play.
