ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern University Women's Lacrosse scored on ten of
their first eleven shots and held off Manhattanville College's
transition offense enough to earn a 22-12 home win in a steady rain.
Grace Griffith finished with a game-high nine points on three goals and
six assists.
The Valiants opened the scoring in the opening
minute, but the Eagles scored the next five goals after controlling a
pair of draws and forcing a trio of Valiant turnovers. Christy Hild
scored a pair of goals in the burst. Manhattanville closed the gap to
6-4 before another five goal burst put the Eagles up 11-4 with just
under nine minutes to play.
The Eagles gained confidence around
the fan as the half progressed and Head Coach Camrin Azzarano was
pleased with her team's patience and movement off the ball. Griffith set
up Hild and Lindsay Moosey in the final five minutes, and it seemed
that the Eagles might run away with the game, but the Valiants tallied
twice in the final nine seconds of the half to grab some momentum back
at 14-7.
The Eagles lost the draw control battle in the opening half but
were effective in forcing 13 turnovers while giving the ball away only
three times. Hild scored four of her game-high five goals before the
intermission.
Manhattanville scored the first two goals of the
second half and had the ball following an Eastern turnover, but a good
ride from the home side forced a turnover and Kelly Dando scored in
transition off the change in possession to shift the game back toward
the home side. Hild scored her final goal of the day off another
Griffith assist to put the Eagles up 16-9.
Eastern controlled the
ground ball game and had only nine turnovers to 22 for the visitors.
Courtney Reinhold paced the Eagles with four caused turnovers and five
draw controls. Dando finished with four goals, and Allie Fultz and
Kendall Rood each had three goals and an assist. Moosey and Reinhold
each scored once and ALlie Gauthier scored a pair. Emelda Ogweta paced
the Valiants (3-3, 3-2 MAC) with four goals and a pair of assists.
The Eagles will look to build on the momentum of the day when they travel to King's College for another MAC contest Saturday.
Box Score
