La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College used an eight-goal second half run to pull away with a 16-5 victory over Centenary University in Colonial States Athletic Conference women's lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon on the turf field in La Plume. The Giants, who set a program record for fewest goals allowed in a game, improve to 3-4 (1-2 CSAC) with its first conference win of the season while dropping the Cyclones to 2-5 (2-2 CSAC) on the spring.
Savanna Robinson (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) opened the scoring just 26 seconds into Saturday's contest before Centenary equalized 12 seconds later.
Alex Smith (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) scored on a free-position shot before
Emily Hawkins (Glenside, Pa./Cheltenham) found the back of the net at the 27:15 mark.
The Cyclones got a goal back 38 seconds later to cut its deficit to 3-2 before the Giants reeled off three straight goals with
Hannah Zuchowski (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro Area) and
Kayla Bain (Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) hitting twine before Hawkins netted her second marker of the day to give the hosts a 6-2 lead with 19 minutes left in the first half.
Centenary trimmed Keystone's lead to 6-3 before Zuchowski and Robinson scored the final two goals of the opening stanza to give the Giants an 8-3 advantage at halftime.
The Cyclones potted the first goal of the second half, scoring 3:46 into the frame to make it an 8-4 game, but Keystone rattled off the next eight goals of the game to seize control with a 16-4 advantage with 10:22 left on the clock. The visitors closed out the scoring with three and a half minutes remaining with the result all but decided.
Hawkins led Keystone with seven points on six goals and one assist while Zuchowski (3 goals) and
Nina Hodanich (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) (2 goals, 1 assist) added three points apiece. Robinson (2 goals) and Smith (1 goal, 1 assist) added two points apiece for the Giants, who held a commanding 43-15 advantage in shots and a 38-17 lead in groundballs.
Daphne Leenas (Ringwood, N.J./Lakeland Regional) picked up her third win of the season by making eight saves on the afternoon for Keystone, who was paced by seven groundballs from Hawkins and six groundballs from
Megan Novak (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin). Hawkins also collected five caused turnovers while Robinson forced four turnovers with Hawkins leading the way with six draw controls.
Priscilla Ortiz and Abby Voelkner scored two goals apiece to lead Centenary's attack. Renee Hack finished the afternoon with 20 saves in goal for the Cyclones, who held a 13-10 edge in draw controls for the contest.
Keystone will return to the field on Monday night with a CSAC contest at Gwynedd Mercy University. Opening draw is set for 7:00 p.m. in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania.
