American Athletic Conference teams split the first two games of the 2021 women's lacrosse season as East Carolina raced to an early lead to hold off Furman, while Old Dominion fell to VCU in the Monarchs' first game as an affiliate member.
EAST CAROLINA 16, FURMAN 14
GREENVILLE, N.C. – An early lead dwindled down to just a single goal, but the ECU lacrosse team held on for a 16-14 win over Furman on Friday afternoon in Johnson Stadium.
ECU (1-0) got outstanding offensive efforts from four different players. Nicole LeGar led everyone with six points on two goals and four assists. Megan Pallozz imissed tying the school-record by a single goal, finishing with five goals to her name. MacKell Schultes and Megan Tryniski each had four points, Schultes got there by scoring four goals while Tryniski tallied one goal and set up three others.
At the draw circle, LeGar led all Pirates with eight draw controls while Frances Kimel and Payton Barr each had four. Kimel added three ground balls, tying her with Ashley Vernon for the team lead while Alexandra Giacalone scooped up two in her collegiate debut. Courtney Frank caused a team-high three turnovers in her first game in a Pirate uniform while Sam Caputo added two caused turnovers of her own. Vernon finished with 10 saves in the crease for ECU to pick up the win.
ECU grabbed control of the game with a commanding 8-0 run after falling behind 2-1 in the early going. Schultes, Pallozzi and LeGar all scored twice during that run with Tryniski getting a goal and two assists. Vernon and the Pirate defense held Furman scoreless for nearly 18 minutes on the other end.
After a pair of Furman goals cut into ECU's lead, Pallozzi completed her first half hat trick. The Paladins added two more goals before Kimel scored with just six seconds on the clock to make the score 11-6 heading into the locker room.
After Furman scored the opening goal of the second half, Pallozzi ripped off a pair of goals in just 43 seconds followed by Schultes completing her own hat trick to stake ECU to a 14-7 lead with less than 19 minutes remaining.
However, three straight Furman goals, two of which came with a player-advantage, made it just a four-goal game with Furman still owning the numbers advantage. However, Barr won the ensuing draw and ran a quick give-and-go with LeGar before finding the back of the net to momentarily stall Furman's momentum.
The Paladins continued to push forward though. Four straight goals by Furman over the next eight minutes cut the lead to just a single goal with 2:46 remaining.
With the game hanging in the balance, it was Schultes who made the clutch play. She cut in from the left side, beating her defender and scoring on the individual effort to give ECU some breathing room again.
Schultes goal proved to be the final of the game as the Pirate defense prevented Furman from getting any good looks in the final two minutes, giving ECU the victory.
Furman finished with a slight 30-25 edge in shots and a 25-22 lead in shots on goal. Both teams had 15 turnovers. The Paladins had a 21-15 edge in ground balls but the Pirates held a 17-14 advantage in draw controls.
VCU 11, OLD DOMINION 7
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team (0-1) fell 11-7 to VCU (1-0) in its season opener on a cold and rainy night at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex. Corrinne Stratton led the Monarchs with a pair of goals in her collegiate debut.
In total, three ODU freshmen recorded goals in their first game. Moira Olexanetted and recorded a pair of draw controls, one ground ball and a caused turnover. Emily Goline scored on a free position attempt.
The Rams struck first, scoring just two minutes, 20 seconds into the game. From there, the sides went back and forth until Lilly Siskind put ODU on top, 3-2, scoring an unassisted marker with 18:09 left in the first.
Old Dominion retained its lead for almost five minutes, but VCU leveled the score at the 13:20 mark. Just 19 seconds later, Keriann McTavish put the Rams on top for good with her second goal of the night. Following McTavish's goal, VCU scored again to take a 5-3 advantage into the break.
VCU scored less than 30 seconds into the second half to cap a run of four unanswered going back to the first period. Amber Stieve fed Stratton for her first goal of the game with 26:31 on the clock to halt the Rams' run and make the score 6-4.
A free position goal from Goline one minute later gave the Monarchs further life, but VCU stemmed the tide with a crucial man-down goal by Lauren Marois to make the score 7-5. Following the goal from Marois, the Rams netted three more without an answer to give themselves a five-goal advantage.
The Monarchs made a late push with goals from Ali Mills and Stratton to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 3:17 remaining, but Savannah Slack's third goal of the night put an end to the ODU comeback bid and produced the final margin.
Slack led all players with three goals. McTavish racked up a game-high four points with two goals and two assists.
Four Monarchs (Mills, Claire Porter, Stieve and Stratton) finished with two points apiece. Porter's two assists matched a game high. Freshman Lauren Carey led all participants with four draw controls and three caused turnovers.
VCU's Gillian Belfiore made 10 saves in 60 minutes to pick up the win. Brianne Blatter made eight saves in 37:43 of action. Jenna Peccia logged three stops across 22:17 in her debut.