WINGATE, N.C. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's lacrosse squad was held off by the Wingate Bulldogs despite their seven-goal second half push on Sunday afternoon.
 
LADY RAILSPLITTER RUNDOWN:
The Bulldogs jumped ahead with a quick four-goal run over the span of the first seven minutes of action. Senior attack Kennedy Buechner marked the first goal of the day for the Lady Railsplitters at the 22-minute mark to put LMU on the board for a 1-4 deficit. Just three minutes later, Buechner tacked on another goal of a free-position opportunity to keep the Bulldogs lead at three goals, 2-5.
 
Junior attack Rachel Gardner and sophomore midfielder Avery Van der Ziel continued taking advantage of the free-position opportunities and tacked on two more goals to bring the Bullldogs lead to two goals, 4-6. Wingate's Leah Knowles then proceeded to record a trio of goals to close the half at 9-4 in favor of the hosting Bulldogs.
 
Gardner kicked off the second stanza of play with a successful strike just 28 seconds in. Junior attack Erin DePaul then found the back of the net for her first time of the day after a free-position attempt followed by another Avery Van der Ziel goal to bring the score to 7-10 with just shy of 25 minutes remaining in the contest.
 
Over the course of the last 19 minutes of play; DePaul, Gardner and Van der Ziel collected five more goals, but the Bulldogs sustained their lead, coasting to an 18-12 victory over the Lady Railsplitters.
 
LMU LEADERS:

• Gardner put up four goals on 11 shots and six draw controls
• DePaul had three goals on six shots, three draw controls and one ground ball
• Van der Ziel contributed with a trio of goals on five shots, in addition to a pair of draw controls and ground balls
• Buechner chipped in two goals on two shots with one ground ball and draw control on the afternoon

 
TEAM STATS:
WU - Megan Biase allowed a dozen goals and tallied 10 saves throughout her 60 minutes in goal for the Bulldogs
LMU – Junior Micayla Starnes marked seven goals on the day while allowing 18 goals.
 
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
Today the Lady Railsplitters marked the most goals scored against Wingate (12) in their conference opener on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Railsplitters now fall to 0-6 all time against the Bulldogs.
 
UP NEXT!
LMU will return to Harrogate and look to host Catawba College on Sat., Mar. 14, for a slated start of 12:00 p.m..
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter lacrosse for the 2020 season.