Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS – The first-ever Butler women's lacrosse game took place on Sunday morning at Varsity Field against the Liberty Flames. BU lost the season opener 16-9, but had two student-athletes record three goals each.
 
Madison Christian and Haley Hallenbeck were the top performers for Butler on Sunday with the duo combining for six of Butler's nine goals. Hallenbeck added an assist to her stat line to post four points. She also tied for the team lead with four ground balls. Christian scored the first goal of the season to knot the score at 1-1 early and a goal from Journey Fischbeck put BU on top 2-1.
 
The Flames would fire back with four-straight goals to take a 5-2 lead. Paige Britton was credited with two of the four during that stretch. Christian's second goal went down unassisted and cut the deficit to just two goals midway through the first half.
 
Liberty would answer with three more goals, two coming from Brianna McCaffrey to take an 8-3 lead. Christian would add her third goal of the first half at the 9:03 mark, but would be held scoreless over the final 30 minutes.
 
Each offense got off to a fast start with Liberty holding a 10-6 edge at the half. The pace slowed down over the final 30 minutes with Liberty edging BU 6-3 to reach the final score of 16-9.
 
Butler's Haley Hallenbeck scored the final goal of the game with just eight seconds remaining on the game clock. Rounding out the BU goal total was Adilyn Smith who scored the opening goal of the second half for BU.
 
The box score featured 32 shots from Liberty compared to 18 from Butler. The Flames also won draw controls 18-9.
 
BU goalkeeper Allie Storke played all 60 minutes for the Bulldogs and finished the game with 11 saves. The Flames split time in goal with Aubrie Tarris getting the start and Katherin Widrick finishing up the final 30.
 
Butler will return to action next weekend with a road contest at Detroit. They will face the Titans at the Ultimate Soccer Arena at 1 PM on Saturday, Feb. 18.