BREVARD, N.C. – The LMU women's lacrosse team scored early and often as they flattened the Brevard Tornados 18-6 in South Atlantic Conference action Saturday evening.
The win improves the Lady Railsplitters to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in SAC play this season. It also marked the first-ever win by LMU in the series and the final meeting of the two as conference competitors as Brevard will move to Division III next season.
LMU had three players with four goals apiece, led by
Casey Kelly (Ellenwood, Ga.) who also had two assists, six points and five ground balls. The six points tie her career high and also tie for the second-best in a single-game in program history.
Jasmin Click (Clermont, Fla.) tied her career high with five points and won seven draw controls in addition to her four goals while
Amara Moss (Woodbridge, Va.) also had five points and won six draws.
Kennedy Buechner (Stafford, Va.) added in three goals and four ground balls,
Zoe Zervos (Ithaca, N.Y.) scored twice and
Rachel Bernhardt (Louisville, Ky.) picked up her eighth goal of the season. Goalie
Shannon Novak (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) had five saves.
The Lady Railsplitters as a team had 18 goals on 35 shots, 21 ground balls, won 18 draws and caused four turnovers. The 18 goals are their largest output of the season and are one shy of the school-record 19 goals set at Montreat last year.
Brevard was led by Victoria Hayes and Micaiah Vacchiano with two goals apiece. Goalie Shelby Arsenault had 10 saves. The Tornados had six goals on 11 shots, 14 ground balls, won seven draws and caused five turnovers.
The Tornados scored first on a woman-up goal by Hayes a little over a minute into the contest. LMU then rolled off four unanswered goals by Bernhardt (26:40), Kelly (24:14), Click (21:47) and Moss (20:08) before Brevard scored again to cut the lead to 4-2. LMU then went on a 5-0 run and scored 6 of the seven goals scored in the rest of the half (including a last-second goal by Kelly) to take the 10-3 lead into the half.
The Lady Railsplitters would outscore Brevard 8-3 in the second half, beginning with three unanswered goals to start the half. BC would score with 24:16 remaining, only to see LMU roll off another three goal run over the next five minutes to extend the lead to 16-4. Both teams would score two goals down the stretch as LMU held on for the 18-6 victory.
LMU now has three games left in the regular season, with two of those being non-conference home tilts vs. Mount Saint Joseph next Saturday and vs. Lees-McRae on April 12. They will then close out the regular season at Coker on April 22.
