Harrogate, TN - Lincoln Memorial women's lacrosse battles to defeat the Thomas More Saints 15-10 Saturday evening. 

Lincoln Memorial got things started by scoring three back to back goals, beginning with Naomi Spangler with 14:40 remaining and Izzy Hobday following with a goal with 10:36 remaining, both unassisted. With 9:08 remaining, Ryan Smith scored her first goal of the match. The Saints responded with their only goal of the quarter with 5:23 remaining, leaving the score with a 3-1 Railspitter lead going into the second.

Unlike the first, Thomas More scored first in the second frame with 10:38 remaining and 3:35 remaining. Ruby Copeland scored only two goals for LMU: her first with 2:36 remaining, with Josie Tinnerello getting the assist, and the second with 1:28 remaining unassisted. The score going halftime would be 5-3 with LMU having the advantage.

Spangler scored first for Lincoln Memorial in the third quarter, with Briana Martinez getting the assist with 11:04 remaining. The Saints responded with 8:02 remaining, but the Railsplitters scored another goal with Smith adding a goal with 8:02 remaining. Thomas More scored four back to back goals : with 6:35 remaining, 6:10 remaining, 4:47 remaining, and 4:17 remaining to make the score 7-8. LMU's Jaiden Jaynes tied things up 8-8 with 3:35 remaining, assisted by Smith. TMU scored their last of the quarter with 2:15 remaining. Lincoln Memorial then tied up the match with 1:29 remaining as Smith scored, then took the 11-9 lead thanks to a goal by Martinez (assisted by Copeland) with 1:04 remaining.

The Railsplitters did most of the scoring in the final frame, beginning with Copeland scoring off of Josie Tinnerello with 14:36 remaining and then Tinnerello scoring a goal of her own, unassisted, with 12:29 remaining. Jaynes continued the run with a goal with 10:13 remaining, with Smith earning the assist. Thomas More recorded their lone goal of the quarter with 5:06 remaining. Lincoln Memorial then secured their win with goals by Martinez (Jaynes) and Jaynes (Martinez), with 2:48 and 1:32 remaining, giving LMU the 15-10 victory. 

Smith led in points with five for three goals and two assists. Martinez (2 goals, two assists), Jaynes (3 goals, 1 assist), and Copeland (3 goals, 1 assist) all followed with four points. Tinnerello was after the trio as she finished with three points for one goal and two assists, and Spangler had two points for two goals. Hobday rounded out the points with one point for one goal. 

Tinnerello led in shots with seven, and Jaynes and Smith both led with four shots on frame each. Mary Kostus was the team-leader in ground balls with five and caused turnovers with three. Jaynes led in draw controls with ten. Emily Mirabile played 60 minutes in goal and recorded nine saves. 

As a team, Lincoln Memorial took 30 shots, with 21 on goal, 14 successful clears, 17 ground balls, 16 draw controls, 17 ground balls, and 17 caused turnovers. 

With the win, LMU improves to 3-2 overall and Thomas More drops to 1-1 overall. 

Their next match will be in a week as they host Gannon on Saturday, February 28th at 3 pm.