HICKORY, N.C. --- Lenoir-Rhyne University scored the game's first 10 goals and went on to a 17-5 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at a rainy Moretz Stadium.
Kaitlyn Cavanaugh led the Bears (6-8, 5-2 SAC) with three goals and four assists and Kirra Olson and Chloe Christensen scored three goals apiece for Lenoir-Rhyne, which outshot Tusculum by a slim 24-20 margin but scored on 17 of its 21 shots on goal.
Tia Daniel had two goals and an assist for the Pioneers (5-8, 2-5 SAC) with two goals from Lucy Brewer and a goal from Kamryn McNeil. The Pioneers had a 16-9 advantage in draw controls and went 12-for-14 on clear attempts, but were thwarted by Bears goalkeeper Teanna Sieben who finished with 12 saves.
The Bears went up 7-0 in the first quarter, scoring three times in the first 4 1/2 minutes, and stretched their lead to 10-0 on a goal from Alexa Burghardt with 8:02 left in the first half. Tusculum broke through on a goal from Brewer with 6:16 remaining in the half, and Brewer added a second off an assist from Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg to cut the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 10-2 at intermission.
Lenoir-Rhyne would go more than 13 minutes without a goal as Daniel cut the deficit to 10-3 early in the third quarter, but the Bears would score four times in four minutes to build a 14-3 lead heading to the fourth. Daniel collected her second goal of the game with 12:09 left and assisted on McNeil's goal with 5:57 remaining.
Daniel finished with eight draw controls to lead the Pioneers, while Brewer had four draw controls, five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Sophia Sesi had three ground balls for the Pioneers with McNeil earning two caused turnovers. For the Bears, Christensen had a team-high four draw controls and Isabelle Dunnam led the defense with four caused turnovers.
Kari Ham played nearly 37 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and had three saves, with Emily White playing 23 minutes and making one save.
Tusculum will host UVA Wise on Wednesday, April 12 at 1 p.m. at Pioneer Field. The Cavaliers routed Coker 22-5 on Saturday to improve to 9-5 overall and 5-3 in the SAC.
