MARS HILL, N.C. – A 12-4 second half allowed the Lady Railsplitter lacrosse team to pull away from a feisty Mars Hill squad and capture their first South Atlantic Conference win of the season 20-9 Thursday afternoon.
LMU improves to 4-2 on the season and 1-1 in the SAC, with both losses this season coming to nationally ranked teams.
Mars Hill falls to 2-5 and 0-2 in SAC play.
Casey Kelly and
Amara Moss led LMU with four goals and seven draws won each. Kelly also had a team-high three assists and a game-high five ground balls.
Erin DePaul and
Kennedy Buechner had 3 goals apiece while
Jacquelin Turner and
Rachel Gardner had two goals each, with Gardner also causing four turnovers.
Zoe Zervos and
Rachel Bernhardt each had a goal.
Shannon Novak had 14 saves in cage while allowing only nine goals.
MHU was led by Olivia Hokanson's five goals. Taylor Burgess, Victoria Eckard, Scout Black and Rebecca Dallman each netted a goal. Molly Tobias had four ground balls and goalie Alexandra Holleran had five saves.
LMU scored two goals in the first minute and a half as DePaul and Buechner both scored unassisted goals. After the Lions scored, Moss and Buechner scored again to put LMU ahead 4-1 with just under 24 minutes left in the half. MHU scored to cut the lead to 4-3 only to see the Lady Railsplitters score three unanswered goals of their own.
The Lions scored a woman-up goal to make the lead 7-4, but DePaul would score a couple minutes later to again put LMU ahead by four. MHU's Hokanson scored late in the half to cut the lead to 8-5 going into the intermission.
LMU came out shooting in the second half, with Moss, Kelly and Turner all scoring goals in the first five minutes of play. After a Hokanson goal cut the lead to 11-6, LMU then went on a tear, scoring seven unanswered goals in 11 minutes and pushing the lead out to 18-6.
Berhnardt and Turner would add two more insurance goals late as LMU went on to win 20-9.
Quick Hits
- This was the first meeting between LMU and Mars Hill in women's lacrosse as it is MHU's first season of competition.
- Kelly, Moss and Buechner are the only three LMU players to score in every game this season.
- Kelly's assist with 13:48 left in the second was her 100th career point. She is the first 100 point scorer in program history. Kelly has 64 goals and 36 assists. Moss is right behind her with 95 career points (78 goals and 17 assists).
- Moss has scored in the last 11 games LMU has played since she returned after missing five games due to injury last season. She has scored in 30 of the 31 games in which she has played.
Up Next
LMU has a quick turnaround as they host Catawba Saturday at 11 a.m. at the LMU Lacrosse Complex. The Lady Railsplitters will be looking for a little revenge as in their meeting with Catawba last year they held a 16-15 lead with 30 seconds left in the game, only to see the Indians score with 27 seconds left and again as time expired to steal the 17-16 win away from LMU.
