Today, the Eastern University women's lacrosse team played on grass for the first time all year. With a steady cold drizzle on what was already a wet field, the Eagles had moments where they struggled to find their footing and a handle on the ball, but seven goals from Grace Griffith and five goals and five assists from Jessie Basch helped Eastern to a 20-13 win at Alvernia on Tuesday.

The Eagles jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the opening six minutes. Basch scored, Kristin Brownett tucked home a shot in close from Erin Reimel, and Griffith finished a Basch pass, before Basch finished the run with rocket to the lower corner.

The Crusader bench took a timeout, and the hosts rallied with three straight goals inside a minute to tighten up the game. Brownett put away her second of the day on a nice feed from Katie Choquette to put the Eagles up 5-3 before Alvernia bounced back with two straight to level the score at 5-5. 

Choquette then scored her first of four on the day on a pass from Basch to start a six goal run by the Eagles. Sarah Hager buried her first goal of the year with 13 minutes remaining to push the visitors to a 7-5 edge. Griffith, Choquette, Erin Fries, and Basch scored single tallies over the last ten minutes of the half. The Crusaders got one back as the half drew to a close, and Eastern led 11-6 at the break.

The Crusaders fired 21 shots to the Eagles' 18 in the opening half, but Eastern goalie Kim Campbell was up to the challenge with 13 of her 18 stops in the first half. Alvernia also enjoyed an 11-7 edge in draw controls. The Eagles would tighten up that differential in the second half.

Eastern took their largest lead of the day at 20-10 with 11:22 remaining on Griffith's seventh of the afternoon. Alvernia scored the final three goals of the day.

Coach Azzarano was pleased to see her team try things on offense and create good shooting opportunities. She said, "Katie [Choquette] had two beautiful goals in the second half on a cut we've been trying to get her to make. Jessie delivered the ball at the right time, but Katie timed the cut well and finished her shots. This is the best teamAlvernia has ever had, and we really had to work to get the ball back. This was not an easy day to play, but we did what we needed to do." 

Felicia Sippel and Sarah George each had five goals for the Crusaders. The Eagles return to action at home Thursday at 4:00 with a critical MAC Contest against Messiah College.

Box Score