SALISBURY, N.C. – The Lady Railsplitter lacrosse program marked their first victory of the 2021 campaign in the conference opener at Catawba on Saturday afternoon.
 
THE RUNDOWN
Lincoln Memorial University found the back of the net first and shared the wealth as four different Lady Railsplitters converted successfully within the first leg of action. Graduate attack Julia Bain notched the first goal of the contest just over four minutes in.
 
Catawba had a quick response with a goal within a minute of game time to tie the score (1-1), but the Blue and Gray put together a run of five-straight goals from junior attack Kelly Csenar, sophomore attack Ali Van Der Ziel, and Bain over the span of eight minutes on the clock.
 
Senior attack Erin DePaul notched her first goal of the season with a dish from Ali Van der ZIel with just 5:41 left on the clock before the break. Csenar concluded the first-half scoring frenzy with an unassisted goal to mark an 8-3 lead at the half.
 
Senior midfielder Rachel Gardner was able to keep things rolling for the Lady Railsplitters as she connected on a free-position shot. Junior attack Sierra Landsman struck for her first mark of the game to extend the lead to six (10-4) within the first 2:20 of the second half.
 
Junior midfielder Avery Van Der Ziel went back-to-back goals for LMU to push the lead further to seven (12-5) with 18:28 left in regulation. Ali Van Der Ziel and Gardner posted the last two marks for LMU in the contest as they closed the game with a 14-10 victory.
 
"I am extremely proud of the effort today and this was a team win. They came out with a ton of energy and let it carry us to victory," head coach Alyssa Shaver added on her first win at the helm of the Lady Railsplitter lacrosse program.
 
IN BETWEEN THE PIPES
CAT – Aryn Dorr allowed 14 goals and 10 saves on 32 shots faced on Saturday afternoon.
LMU – Senior Micayla Starnes clocked in for 51 minutes after posting five saves and seven goals against on 14 shots faced. Sophomore Keegan Gillman stepped in with nine minutes remaining, only allowing three goals on five shots faced to close the game for the visiting Lady Railsplitters.
 
TEAM STATS
LMU led in shots (32-19), ground balls (23-11), successful clears (20-19), turnovers (20-27), while trailing in draw controls (11-14), and saves (5-10).  
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD
After today's victory, the Lady Railsplitters notched their second-straight victory against Catawba dating back to March of 2019. The all-time head-to-head record sits at 2-6 versus the Indians.
 
UP NEXT!
The Lady Railsplitters will dive deeper into conference play as they look to travel to Mars Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday, March 10^th, to take on the Lions of Mars Hill University at 4:00 p.m.
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for more LMU women's lacrosse coverage.