The Women’s Professional Lacrosse League was sent scrambling July 6 when its games in West Chester, Pa., had to be rescheduled due to lightning. Loyola University stepped up in the course of just a few days to play the perfect host for the makeup games.

The Baltimore area provided plenty of visiting players and fans competing nearby in the MidAtlantic Summer Club Championships. The home of the Greyhounds, Ridley Athletic Center, was packed to see the WPLL doubleheader Friday.

The move to Loyola made for a homecoming for seven former Loyola players — Katrina Geiger, Molly Hulseman, Bailey Mathis, Hannah Powers, Taryn VanThof, Taylor VanThof and Molly Wolf — plus Greyhounds associate head coach Dana Dobbie.

Lindsey Ehrhardt plays for the Fight, but they were off last weekend. Maddy Lesher, a defender for the Fire, is out for the season due to an injury.

The Loyola contingent did not hold back against each other. Mathis forced a turnover on Dobbie, and Powers and Taylor VanThof each scored goals on Wolf.

Complete Control

Haley Warden was named the WPLL Player of the Week from the second game Friday after she set a new WPLL record for draw controls with 11 in the Pride’s 16-12 win over the Fire.

Warden, who had 10 draw controls against North Carolina as a senior at James Madison, had more draw controls than the entire Fire team.

The Pride had an 18-10 advantage on the draw. Warden also had a 2-point goal and an assist, caused two turnovers and came up with two ground balls.

Hannah Powered

Hannah Nielsen and Hannah Powers accounted for six of the Fire’s 12 goals and four of their six assists in the loss to the Pride. On the season, they have 11 goals, and Nielsen has only played in two of the Fire’s three games.

The rest of the team has 17, led by five for Kelyn Freedman and four for Taylor VanThof.

ESPY Appearance

During their college careers at Maryland and Princeton respectively, both Alex Aust and Rachel DeCecco had been to Tewaaraton Award ceremonies. The two were chosen to represent the WPLL at The ESPY Awards in Los Angeles last Wednesday.

Aust, an attacker on the Pride, and DeCecco, the senior vice president of the WPLL, posed on the red carpet before entering sports’ largest awards ceremony.

An incredible night at the @espys. Inspired, grateful, and proud to represent @prowomenslax at this amazing event pic.twitter.com/azgfZerlaW

— Rachael DeCecco (@rachael_dececco) July 11, 2019

Playoffs Set

The Pride play the Brave and the Fight take on the Fire in a doubleheader Saturday at Hofstra. Regardless of the results, the matchups are set for the WPLL semifinals that will be 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on July 26 at Yale’s Reese Stadium.

The top-seeded Fight will take on fourth-seeded Command, the defending champions. The other semifinal will pit the Brave and Pride for the second straight weekend. The two 2-1 teams will face each other first Saturday at 1 p.m. to end their regular seasons and determine which is the No. 2 and which is the No. 3 seed.

The Fight will not be impacted as the No. 1 seed even if they lose to the 0-3 Fire at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The July 26 semifinal winners play for the second WPLL championship July 28 (12 p.m. on ESPNU) at Tierney Field at US Lacrosse headquarters.