Oberlin, Ohio – Oberlin College sophomore Annie Payne scored a career-high nine goals to lift the Oberlin College women's lacrosse team to a thrilling 19-17 win over the visiting John Carroll University Blue Streaks on Wednesday afternoon at the Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex.
 
Tess Siciliano and Eliza Amber each recorded a hat trick to help bolster the offensive attack. Amber and Payne also led the way with seven draw controls each.  
 
Oberlin got off to a hot start, scoring four of the game's first five goals. Payne opened the 10-goal half by redirecting a pass from Amber before adding an unassisted tally.
 
Following a JCU score, Siciliano sent in a feed from Leah Crowther before Payne would complete the hat trick in the first nine minutes of the game with the help of an Ellie Jensen pass to make it 4-1.
 
Colleen Grombala cut the deficit in half but three straight Oberlin tallies from Amber, Jensen, and Payne swelled the margin out to 7-2 with just under 14 minutes left in the opening session.
 
The Blue Streaks responded by posting three consecutive goals of their own to trim the deficit down to two, 7-5, but Payne would halt the run with a finish off a feed from Kyra Aviles. Oberlin scored again just 20 seconds later as Leah Crowther deposited her first goal of the night.
 
However, John Carroll netted three of the final four goals of the opening half as the Yeowomen settled for a 10-8 advantage at the intermission.
 
The Blue Streaks had the differential down to one, 13-12, 10 minutes into the second half but Oberlin answered with four goals in row, the first coming on a player-up advantage from Payne. Siciliano, Amber, and Aviles would follow with goals of their own to increase the cushion to 17-12.
 
However, it would get dicey for the Yeowomen once again as JCU scored four more times to make it a 17-16 game but Payne would give Oberlin some breathing room with her 24th goal of the year as 9:31 remained in the game.
 
The Blue Streaks' Alex Heishman quickly got the margin down to a single tally again before Amber capped the game's scoring with 4:39 to play. Oberlin appeared to have another insurance marker but it was waived off for an illegal stick.
 
Down the stretch Yeowomen goalie Maranda Phillips stood tall and made three critical saves to help preserve the win as she finished with 12 stops in the victory.
 
Oberlin will look for its fourth win in a row when it hosts Wittenberg University on Saturday at 1 p.m. No spectators will be allowed to attend the game but fans are encouraged to follow live on goyeo.com/stream.