Saint Leo, Fla. – The No. 23 Saint Leo Lions pulled away in the second quarter and never looked back in handing the Lee women's lacrosse team a 17-6 road defeat on a warm Tuesday evening in the Sunshine State.

Dariana Blanton and Brittney White led the Lady Flames with two goals each. White added four draw controls and Blanton tallied an assist. Megan Trout scored a goal and scooped up three ground balls.

Fiona McLaughlin led all scorers with five goals on six shots. Lia Lamendola chipped in three goals while Meghan Bomleny got the offense going with six assists.
Saint Leo held a 10-4 advantage at the half allowing just one second quarter goal. The Lions took that momentum into the second half and outscored the Lady Flames, 7-2 over the final two quarters.

Makayla Goetz earned the win in goal for the Lions with 10 saves. Kaleigh Bernard played the first half and allowed 10 goals while registering three saves. Caleigh Smith came on to finish the final 30 minutes and yielded seven goals while posting five saves.

Saint Leo held a 34-20 advantage in shots, placing 25 on goal. Paced by 12 draw controls from Maria Palomba the Lions led 19-8 in that category. Cotter helped on the defensive side with two caused turnovers and two ground balls.

The Lady Flames came into the contest converting 59.1 percent of their free position shots. On this night however the Saint Leo defense limited Lee to just 1 of 5 in free position opportunities.

Lee falls to 3-4 on the year but 3 of the 4 loses have now come to ranked teams. Saint Leo improves to 3-4.

The road won't get any easier for the Lady Flames as they head just down the road to take on No. 13 Tampa on Friday night.