UC Davis ends season with a blowout

The UC Davis Lacrosse team’s last game had no bearing on the outcome of this season, but they still put forth an impressive effort.

The Aggies were already deprived of a chance to play in the postseason when they lost to Stanford two games before. It seemed UC Davis had lost its edge when they were handed a disappointing loss by Fresno State.

But the Aggies silenced its critics with a 24-10 blowout win over St. Mary’s. The 24 goals tied the record for the most goals scored in a single game in UC Davis history.

Although the game was close in the beginning, the Aggies took a commanding 15-5 lead going into halftime after a 12-minute stretch where the team scored 10 goals. From there, UC Davis cruised through the second half and put up nine more goals before the final game of their season would come to a close.

Junior attacker Elizabeth Datino put together a masterful performance, ending the game with eight assists and four goals. Her 12 points in the game brought her season total to a school record of 101 points, the highest of any player in NCAA Division I.

Datino’s 47 assists this year shattered the previous UC Davis single season record of 29. Despite the fact that they were named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation as first team, Datino stressed the importance of the game for the entire team.

“Winning the last game of the season sets the tone for the start of next year and it also shows that our team will never quit,” Datino said.

Junior midfielder Hannah Mirza also played a huge role in the offensive explosion with a career high eight goals. Mirza, who was a consistent contributor for the Aggies the entire year, was named to the all-MPSF second team.

Elizabeth Landry, an MPSF first-teamer and Newcomer of the Year, also made six goals in the destruction of the 3-12 St. Mary’s team.  The freshman also had four caused turnovers and five groundballs.

The win marked the end of a season that featured some struggles for the young Aggie team.

Still, with many key contributors returning next year, UC Davis will be looking to return to the MPSF Tournament in 2013.

JASON MIN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.