LEXINGTON, Kentucky – A strong start fueled The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team to a season-opening 16-8 victory over Transylvania University on Saturday afternoon at Pat Deacon Stadium.
Wooster (1-0) raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. First-year Kenzie Morris started the Fighting Scots' scoring just 3:16 into the contest, and senior Caitlyn O'Connor, junior Hannah Shaw, and senior Syd Schuster joined the scoring column in the stanza. In fact, O'Connor scored twice in the period, and Morris had a hand in the first two goals scored during her collegiate career with the helper on goal number two.
Junior Jill Murray, who scored a team-leading four goals, became the fifth Scot to etch a tally in the scoring column, and Wooster's lead grew to 11-2 at the half. Sophomore Kenzie Smith, Murray, and Morris led Wooster on a three-goal spurt just before halftime. Senior CC Dent, who was making collegiate start number two, turned aside a Transylvania (1-3) shot during the three-goal stretch, while Shaw headlined the other contributions with a groundball and draw control.
The Pioneers made their run just before the end of the third period. Abbey Peterson's goal with 34 ticks left had Transylvania within 13-6. However, seven is as close as Transylvania got in the scoring column, with Morris netting her third goal and Murray tacking on number four at the start of the fourth.
Five Scots finished with multiple goals, as Morris (3), O'Connor (3), Schuster (2), and Shaw (2) joined Murray there. Wooster logged assists on five of its goals. Morris had one of them to finish with a co-team-leading four points. Shaw surpassed 100 career draw controls with a game-high nine, while junior Clare Leithauser's four groundballs led the Scots. Morris had two of Wooster's five caused turnovers.
Peterson's three goals led Transylvania as did Charlotte Green's six draw controls.
Wooster outshot Transylvania 42-24 and had a slight 20-19 groundball edge. Transylvania had 25 turnovers to Wooster's 17.
Next, Wooster hosts Otterbein University (1-1) at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2.