CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Lee University women's lacrosse team gave interim head coach Megan Smith her first Lee victory with a, 17-11, win over UVA-Wise on Saturday afternoon from the Ray Conn Sports Complex.
The Lady Flames got the scoring started with a Katelynn Sweeney goal just over three minutes into the contest.
The two teams went back and forth before a Grace Golatt score evened it up at seven with 8:30 to go before the half. From there it was all Lee with the the Lady Flames scoring three straight goals to end the half with a, 10-7, lead.
Sweeney threw in her fourth goal of the match to start the second half to stretch their advantage to four. The Cavs ended the run with an Issie Brown goal while 4:47 remained in the third.
The two teams traded goals capped by Logen Davis buzzer beater to end the third with a, 13-10, edge to the hosts.
The fourth and final period was all Lady Flames. Noelle Harrington found the back of the net with 13:49 left to kick start a four-goal run to put the game out of reach. Callie Curtis scored two goals during the stretch and Maggie Luzier pitched in with one of her own.
Wise slipped one past the goalie with a Mallory Trimble goal to cut the lead to eight but the Lady Flame defense held them scoreless the rest of the way to claim the season-opening win.
Sweeney led all scorers with four while Luzier and Brittney White had three goals each. Makenna Luzier pitched three assists, and Hannah Vecsey had a pair of helps. A host of Lady Flames picked up three ground balls, and Curis led all players with eight draw controls. White finished with seven.
Trimble led the guests with three goals and an assist. Issie Brown and Golatt had three draw controls each while Jordan Knight had four ground balls.
The Lady Flames were dominant on the draw winning 20 of the 31 draw controls leading to a, 38-23, shot advantage. Lee put 30 of their 38 shots on goal and was 18-for-20 in clears.
Kaleigh Bernard got the start in goal for the hosts making four saves in just under 53 minutes of action. Caleigh Smith came off the bench, allowed one goal, and made one stop in the final seven minutes.
Lee will be back in action on Tuesday as they play host to Rollins College at the Ray Conn Sports Complex beginning at 4 p.m.
Coach Megan Smith's Thoughts:
"We have a small team this year but everyone can contribute and that is so exciting. So we have been running lines and using everyone. Both sides of the field have been great. Makenna Luzier on the attack had two goals and three assists and every single person coming off the bench really bought into the game plan and did amazing."
"We talked about at halftime about controlling the controllables. We hurt ourselves with turnovers and getting the ground ball. They listened, and took control of that."
"Rollins is ranked. We are excited. We scrimmaged them last year so we are looking forward to a regular season game and are ready to work hard and see where we stack up against a ranked opponent."
