HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lee University women's lacrosse team was defeated 18-6 by Lincoln Memorial University at the LMU Lacrosse Complex Wednesday afternoon. The Lady Flames dropped to 3-5 on the season, while the Railsplitters improved to 6-1.
"Our game today once again exposed our youth as a team," said Lee head coach Derrel Martin. "At the start, we controlled the draw and possession of the ball. Our offense ran smoothly and we jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Then we started to turn the ball over which was our undoing on offense. On defense we got pushed around and overcommitted on our slides."
Kaylyn Dillon scored twice and Shayna Ryan tallied one goal in the opening 7:27 to put the Lady Flames ahead 3-0. Ryan added an assist, while her goals were assisted by Ryan and Becca Broadwick.
LMU responded with six consecutive goals over the next 10 minutes before Broadwick tallied an unassisted goal with 6:38 remaining. The home team added two more scores to hold an 8-4 advantage at the halftime break.
LMU continued their offensive onslaught with three straight goals to begin the second half. A pair of goals by Dariana Blanton sandwiched another Railsplitters goal to make the score 12-6 with 19:38 left on the clock. LMU added six goals in the last 17 minutes to provide the final margin.
The Railsplitters were led by five goals from Amara Moss and received four more from Erin DePaul. Jasmin Click and Kennedy Buechner collected three goals each, while Kelly Csenar had one and Melanie Cascio rounded out the scoring with one.
The Lady Flames were outshot 39-21 with LMU placing 33 on goal to 21 for Lee. Micayla Starnes amassed 11 saves to earn the win for LMU. Abby Sanders was charged with the loss despite 15 saves.
The sides were even with 13 draw controls a piece. Lee converted 13-of-17 clear attempts, while LMU was 19-for-21. The Lady Flames were 0-for-7 in free-position shots. LMU scored on two of their four free-position shots.
Lincoln Memorial scooped up 27 ground balls with Starnes collecting a game-leading six ground balls. Ryan and Emily Osborne had three ground balls each for six of Lee's 16.
"We have to win our ground ball opportunities and we continue to get beat in that area. We will go back to basics this week to prepare for our conference run," added Martin.
The Lady Flames return home next Wednesday (March 20) to take on Montevallo. The 3 p.m. EDT meeting is the first of four consecutive GSC contests for Lee.
