SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V. — The Lincoln Memorial women's lacrosse team coupled a strong defensive effort with two goals each from four players to take down Shepherd University 10-9 Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lady Railsplitters held the Rams top goal scorer from last year, Lillian Funke, to just two goals on eight shots with a stifling defense. Funke led Shepherd with 49 goals last season.
 
Erin DePaul continued her torrid start to the season with two more goals while Casey Kelly, Amara Moss and Kelly Csenar also added two goals each. Kennedy Buechner and Melanie Cascio added single goals each to complete the scoring. In goal, Micayla Starnes came up with 11 saves, including many down the closing stretch, to slam the door shut on the Rams.
 
"Micayla had a great game, making some key saves down the stretch," said Head Coach Caitlyn Corace. "Overall it was a great team win."
 
The Lady Railsplitters (2-1) trailed at the end of the first half by a 5-4 score but came out strong in the second half to notch their second win in three games.
 
The teams traded goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, knotting the score at 8-8 with just under 19 minutes to play.
 
Kelly gave LMU a 9-8 lead at the 15:58 mark, but Shepherd tied the game at nine shortly thereafter. Moss stepped up and hit the back of the net with the eventual game winner at the 8:08 mark, making a nice cut to the front of the net. From that point on, LMU and Starnes shut down the Rams to seal the 10-9 win.
 
"We worked on spreading the offense out and creating openings for each other," Corace said of the scoring attack.
 
The balanced attack was not only reflected in the scoring, but in the shots on goal also. Kelly led the offense with five shots on goal, with DePaul following with four, and Moss and Csenar contributing three each.
 
"We were preaching discipline before the game today and the girls really pulled through in the end," said Corace. "They played composed and used their toughness to play out the full 60 minutes to get the win."
 
Lincoln Memorial will hit the field again on Monday when they visit Davis & Elkins College for a 1 pm start.