SPARTANBURG, S.C. – It was an offensive scoring clinic on Saturday afternoon as the Converse University Lacrosse team came up short in a 20-18 loss to Emmanuel University at Weisiger Stadium.

With the loss the Valkyries drop to 3-9 overall on the season and 2-2 in Conference Carolinas action. Meanwhile, Emmanuel improves to 6-5 overall on the year and 2-2 in Conference Carolinas play. Saturday's game featured the four of the top five goal scorers in Conference Carolinas, Paige Murphy for Emmanuel, and Hailey Obenchain, Becky Reinhard and Gencie Coan for Converse.

The offensive battle between Murphy and Obenchain did not disappoint as the nations top points leaders faced off against one another. Coming into the contest Murphy was one point ahead of Obenchain at 74-73. Murphy led all scorers on Saturday, with 10 goals against the Valkyries. However, Obenchain finished with a season high 13 points as she contributed 9 goals and 4 assists in the loss.

Despite the loss, Converse had three players achieve five milestones on Saturday afternoon. Obenchain with her 119 career goals has now moved into second place on the Valkyries all-time scoring list. The junior also posted her 250^th career point on Saturday, becoming the first Converse lacrosse player in program history to achieve this milestone.

Gencie Coan recorded six draw controls in the loss on Saturday, and now has the most draw controls in program history with 165 draw controls and counting. Becky Reinhard finished second on the team with seven goals against the Lions, the sophomore recorded her 100^th career goal and 100^th career point on Saturday.

Murphy started the scoring with the first goal of the game at the 11:15 mark, giving Emanuel the early 1-0 advantage. Hailey Obenchain scored the next two goals for Converse, giving the Valkyries their first lead of the afternoon at the 9:32 mark of the opening period. Emmanuel scored the next three goals to regain the lead against the Valkyries back line. Becky Reinhard and Zoey Jacobs scored the final two goals of the period for Converse as the Valkyries went into the second quarter trailing 5-4.

In the second quarter, Obenchain tied the score at five with an unassisted goal at the 11:16 mark of the period. Emmanuel countered by scoring the next four goals in the second quarter. Obenchain scored the final goal of the first half and Converse trailed 9-6 going into halftime.

Coming out of the halftime break, Reinhard scored in the first two minutes of the quarter to pull the Valkyries back within a pair of goals of Emmanuel. Following an Emmanuel goal, Gencie Coan responded with her first goal of the contest to keep Converse within striking distance. For the majority of the period the two teams traded goals with one another, but with two minutes to go the Valkyries offense began to make their move. Renihard and Obenchain accounted for the final three goals of the third quarter. The late run had the Valkyries trailing by just one goal (13-12) heading into the final period of action.

Emmanuel scored in the first 30 seconds in the fourth quarter to regain their two goal advantage over Converse. Reinhard and Obenchain once again countered and scored the next three goals for Converse. The late offensive spurt gave the Valkyries their second lead of the contest at 15-14 with 12:26 to play.

Less than a minute later, Murphy scored the next two goals for the Lions and Emmanuel was back on top at 16-15. Reinhard tied the match at 16 with 10:57 to play, but Emmanuel countered with back-to-back goals to retake a two goal advantage. Despite a pair of late goals by Reinhard and Obenchain the Valkyries ran out of time to complete the comeback against the Lions.

Scoring Breakdown

1^st Quarter:

·         11:15, Paige Murphy, assisted by Meghan Jennings, Emmanuel 1-0

·         10:39, Hailey Obenchain, assisted by Becky Reinhard, Tied 1-1

·         9:32, Hailey Obenchain, assisted by Brooklyn Walker, Converse 2-1

·         9:00, Paige Murphy, assisted by Kristie Fisher, Tied 2-2

·         8:26, Paige Murphy, assisted by Taylor Schubert, Emmanuel 3-2

·         7:09, Taylor Schubert, assisted by Meghan Jennings, Emmanuel 4-2

·         6:22, Becky Reinhard, unassisted, Emmanuel 4-3

·         2:22, Taylor Schubert, assisted by Mikaela Austin, Emmanuel 5-3

·         0:03, Zoey Jacobs, assisted by Megan Holleran, Emmanuel 5-4

2^nd Quarter:

·         11:16, Hailey Obenchain, unassisted, Tied 5-5

·         8:49, Kristie Fisher (Woman Down), unassisted, Emmanuel 6-5

·         5:29, Paige Murphy, unassisted, Emmanuel 7-5

·         4:08, Meghan Jennings, assisted by Taylor Schubert, Emmanuel 8-5

·         3:56, Paige Murphy, assisted by Kristie Fisher, Emmanuel 9-5

·         2:57, Hailey Obenchain, unassisted, Emmanuel 9-6

3^rd Quarter:

·         12:58, Becky Reinhard, unassisted, Emmanuel 9-7

·         11:49, Krisite Fisher, unassisted, Emmanuel 10-7

·         10:42, Gencie Coan (Woman Up), assisted by Hailey Obenchain, Emmanuel 10-8

·         10:14, Meghan Jennings, unassisted, Emmanuel 11-8

·         6:53, Paige Murphy, unassisted, Emmanuel 12-8

·         5:56, Hailey Obenchain, unassisted, Emmanuel 12-9

·         5:21, Demi Czynski, unassisted, Emmanuel 13-9

·         2:16, Becky Reinhard, assisted by Hailey Obenchain, Emmanuel 13-10

·         0:42, Hailey Obenchain, assisted by Megan Holleran, Emmanuel 13-11

·         0:01, Becky Reinhard, assisted by Hailey Obenchain, Emmanuel 13-12

 4^th Quarter:

·         14:29, Demi Czynski, assisted by Paetyn Hoffmann, Emmanuel 14-12

·         13:40, Becky Reinhard, assisted by Hailey Obenchain, Emmanuel 14-13

·         12:44, Hailey Obenchain, assisted by Zoey Jacobs, Tied 14-14

·         12:26, Hailey Obenchain, assisted by Gencie Coan, Converse 15-14

·         11:55, Paige Murphy, assisted by Kristie Fisher, Tied 15-15

·         11:41, Paige Murphy, unassisted, Emmanuel 16-15

·         10:57, Becky Reinhard, assisted by Zoey Jacobs, Tied 16-16

·         9:58, Meghan Jennings, unassisted, Emmanuel 17-16

·         9:42, Kristie Fisher, unassisted, Emmanuel 18-16

·         4:25, Becky Reinhard, unassisted, Emmanuel 18-17

·         4:03, Paige Murphy, unassisted, Emmanuel 19-17

·         2:26, Paige Murphy (Woman Down), assisted by Meghan Jennings, Emmanuel 20-17

·         0:34, Hailey Obenchain, assisted by Megan Holleran, Emmanuel 20-18

Notables:

Points – Obenchain (13), Reinhard (8), Holleran (3), Jacobs (3), Coan (2)

Goals – Obenchain (9), Reinhard (7), Coan (1), Jacobs (1)

Assists – Obenchain (4), Holleran (3), Jacobs (2)

Saves – Collins (17)

Next Up:

·         The lacrosse team will hit the road this week as they travel to North Greenville on Tuesday evening, the match is set to start at 5:30 p.m.

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