Box Score Sophomore midfielder Ellie Meyer scored four of her career-high five goals during a three-minute span in the second half as the Colorado College women's lacrosse team rallied for a crucial 20-12 victory at Augustana College on a soggy Saturday afternoon on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River.

With their postseason lives on the line, the Tigers struck for 10 consecutive goals after senior attacker Anne Hopkins gave Augustana a 12-10 advantage with her fifth tally midway through the second half.

Junior attacker Annie DeFrino ignited the comeback with the last of her three markers with 12:42 to play, and then Meyer knotted the score with exactly 11 minutes remaining.

CC took the lead for good 23 seconds later when junior attacker Steph Kelly struck for an unassisted goal, and then the Tigers began to pull away when Meyer notched three of the team's next four goals in a span of just 1:34.

"Ellie has been great during the second half of the season," head coach Susan Stuart said. "She's a tremendous athlete who still has a ton of untapped potential, and her fire and determination is extremely contagious."

Colorado College monopolized possession during the final 15 minutes by winning 10 of the last 12 draw controls. At the same time, the CC's dialed up the pressure and forced eight Viking turnovers while allowing only four total shots.

"When we dominate draw controls, that allows our offense to score a lot of goals," Stuart said. "I'm not satisfied, but I'm happy with the win and the grit we displayed at the end. We were not sharp at the beginning of the game. We need to do a better job of competing for 60 minutes."

Hopkins scored twice early in the first half as Augustana jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Senior attacker Lily Benjamin notched a pair of goals as the Tigers answered with a 5-0 run, but they were unable to create any separation and the Vikings pulled to within a goal when freshman attacker Samantha Wright scored with a fraction under 14 seconds remaining before halftime.

Augustana scored the first three goals of the second half to build a 10-8 lead, but Benjamin and senior attacker Sadie Cole found the net 58 seconds apart to tie the game at 10-10 with 17:51 to play.

The game was eerily similar to last year when Colorado College scored the final nine goals of the game to post a 20-13 victory in a driving rain. In that contest, the Tigers trailed 13-11 with 25 minutes to play.

"I didn't realize how similar the two games were," Stuart said. "Obviously, we like to make things interesting and then turn it on at the end."

Kelly dished out five assists and led CC with eight points. With her helper on Benjamin's second goal 7:57 into the first half, she passed Cassie Abel (2002-05) for second place on the program's career points list. Kelly finished the game with 241 and needs just 12 more to break Mary Everett's (1996-99) program record of 252.

Benjamin finished with four goals and an assist, while DeFrino added three more tallies to increase her single-season record to 65.

Junior defender Cole Vanacore led the Colorado College defensive effort with career highs of six caused turnovers and seven ground balls. Meyer and Sadie Cole grabbed four draw controls apiece.

Junior goaltender Zoe Frolik stopped three shots during the first half, while freshman Remy Wells added three more during the final 30 minutes.

The Tigers launched 40 shots, compared to only 24 for Augustana. CC also finished with a 32-26 edge in ground balls and a 19-15 edge in draw controls.

Starting goaltender Madalynne Russell made three saves during the first 30 minutes for the Vikings, while junior Analia Fowler stopped nine shots in the second half.

Colorado College, which improved to 13-4, faces off with Concordia University Wisconsin in the regular-season finale on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.