GREENWOOD – The sun was shining bright on the Van Taylor Stadium field Wednesday afternoon, and the Lander women's lacrosse team shined brighter in winning 14-11 over Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
It was Lander's first home game in two weeks after a week-long trip to Florida last week. The Bearcats evened their record at 4-4 and picked up their first set of back-to-back wins this year.
PSAC member IUP fell to 2-4.
Reigning Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week,
Morgan Hill, continued her upward trajectory by setting a new career-high of five goals against the Crimson Hawks.
Kylie Fragala (three goals, two assists) scored at least five points for the second straight game and third time this season.
Ella Benson produced her first multi-goal game of the year while tying her season-high of four draw controls, and
Sophie Warren provided two goals and two assists.
Caroline Nicholson and
Kayla Smith also scored – it was Smith's first goal since the season-opener versus Anderson.
IUP struck first 33 seconds into the game, forcing the Bearcats to make an early response – a task they were certainly up to.
Warren, Fragala and Benson scored three unanswered to give LU a 3-1 first quarter lead.
Hill extended the run to four straight 1:18 into the second. The Crimson Hawks scored three of the game's next four goals as Lander clung to a 5-4 lead seven minutes before halftime.
LU flipped the script on their opponent and outscored them 4-1 the remainder of the quarter for a 9-5 buffer.
Benson, Warren, Nicholson and Fragala had the goals.
Hill doubled-up the Crimson Hawks at the beginning of the second half. She also scored the last goal of the third with two seconds left to carry the Blue and Gold into the fourth up 12-7; Smith scored in-between.
IUP looked eager to make a late-game rally and scored three times in a row over the fourth quarter's first six minutes.
Hill put that exercise to rest – and the game out of reach – on her fourth and fifth goals of the afternoon.
Another of LU's weekly award winners,
Kaia Morey, authored a noteworthy game that featured six draw controls, two caused turnovers and four ground balls.
Emma Bravo also caused a pair of turnovers to go along with four GB's.
Zoe Cotheran and
Emersin Clamp both made five saves in 30 minutes.
Lander plays at home again on Saturday, March 14 at 4 p.m. versus No. 7 Slippery Rock.
