San Diego State University’s women’s lacrosse team lost 17-15 to Columbia in a closely contested game on Aztec Field on March 15. The match featured strong offensive performances and a record-breaking effort from Keira Doyle-Odenbach, but the Aztecs were unable to overcome the Lions.
The result leaves San Diego State with a 1-6 record for the season, while Columbia improves to 6-2 overall. The game was marked by standout contributions from sophomores Mia Maechtel and Doyle-Odenbach. Maechtel led the Aztecs with five goals and three assists, both career highs, along with two ground balls and one caused turnover. Doyle-Odenbach set a new school record for draw controls in a single game with 13, surpassing the previous mark of 12 set in 2018. She also scored four goals, added an assist, two caused turnovers, and one ground ball.
Maechtel and Doyle-Odenbach have combined for nearly half of San Diego State’s goals this season. Junior transfer Molly Jacobson scored her first career goal for the Aztecs, finishing with two on the day. Additional scoring came from Lilah Turley, Macie Buell, Tatum Neach, and Tate Stokesberry. Of the team’s total of 15 goals against Columbia, nine were assisted.
On defense, San Diego State forced ten turnovers against Columbia. Maya Tillman contributed two caused turnovers and collected two ground balls; she currently leads the Big 12 Conference in average caused turnovers per game. In goal, Caitlin Boughton started for San Diego State before being replaced by Grace Moore after allowing seven goals in twenty minutes; Moore recorded five saves over forty minutes of play.
Columbia’s offense was led by Maddie Brogan with five goals and Cecelia Messner who tallied four goals and four assists. Anna Becker added three more scores for the Lions.
Head Coach Kylee White said after the game: “We played a really good team and battled the entire time. That’s just sports. Sometimes one call, one ground ball, one shot can make all the difference. If we did just a couple of things differently, it could be a different score. But I’m really happy with our offense, which is starting to gel a lot more. To have eight people with points means we’re sharing the ball and we have a lot of people on the field who are threats. They competed really hard. There are just going to be times where your youth is exposed. We’re walking away from this game with our heads held high and we’re excited about the ways in which we’re getting better.”
Looking ahead, San Diego State will travel to face Kent State on Friday followed by Akron on Sunday.
