Six straight goals in the middle of the second half led Holy Family past the Wilmington University women's lacrosse team, 15-8, in both team's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener on Tuesday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
Sara LeBrun scored her third goal of the first half with 35 seconds left to bring the Wildcats (1-5, 0-1 CACC) to within a single goal, 6-5, at the halftime break. After the teams traded the first two goals to open the second stanza, the Tigers (2-2, 1-0 CACC) scored six unanswered goals over an 11:51 span, giving the visitors a 13-6 lead with 12:29 to play in regulation.
The Wildcats recovered to score the next two goals of the game, but the Tigers held on for the 15-8 victory, gaining the draw controls and scoring the final two goals of the contest.
The game went back and forth in the first half, as the Tigers opened with the first two goals of the game. Rebekah McCurry and LeBrun answered right back with the games' next two goals to tie the game 2-2 with 22:07 left in the frame.
The Tigers again scored back-to-back goals before Megan Keffer and LeBrun tied the game at 4-4 once again with back-to-back goals with 5:17 remaining in the half. But the Tigers tallied twice more before LeBrun scored the final goal of the half to give the visitors the 6-5 lead at the break.
Keffer brought the Wildcats to within 7-6 with 25:57 to play with her second goal of the game, but then Holy Family rattled off the next six marks to take control of the game. The Tigers received three straight goals from Brianna Lancetta during the streak.
Holy Family held a 34-22 advantage in shots for the game, continuing to put pressure on the Wildcat defense by winning 15 of the 25 draw controls in the game.
LeBrun led the Wildcats with four goals in the game while Keffer added three for her first hat trick of the season. McCurry added a goal and three assists, as well as team highs of four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Lancetta led the Tigers with five goals and an assist while Pair Settar contributed four goals and an assist for the visitors.
Corinne Dries made 11 stops on the afternoon while Grace Deckert recorded seven stops in goal for the win for the Tigers.
The Wildcats remain in the CACC for their next two contests, as they head to Dominican for an afternoon matchup on Saturday. The game will be played at the Torne Valley Sports Complex with the opening draw set for 12 p.m.
