Eagles Take Down the Knights on the Road

David Finney

Laurinburg, NC - The #5 nationally ranked Eagles Women's Lacrosse team was on the road for a conference game with St. Andrews. Currently, the Eagles are sitting in second place in the conference just behind SCAD Savannah. St. Andrews is currently in fourth place with a 2-2 conference record. This would be one that the Eagles would want to take care of early so they could start planning on the big game with Keiser University coming up on Monday afternoon.

Jessie Landers would be in goal for the Eagles and she would have 7 saves in the game on 12 shot attempts. The defense has been shorthanded lately with some injuries, however, the younger players on the team are stepping up to help in this department. The Eagles have the firepower and talent to play with anyone offensively, but with a younger, inexperienced defense - everyone has to step up and play a little harder.  

The Eagles would do just that in this game with St. Andrews as they took off in the second quarter. The first quarter would see the Eagles score just two goals and Jillian Mello would be the first to strike against the Rams.  Mello's goal would come about four minutes into the first quarter. Adriana Talkington would get the second goal with about 6 minutes left in the first putting the Eagles up 2-1. 

The second quarter is where the game began to shift for the Eagles. Mello would add another 2 goals to her total. Shelby O'Neil would have two goals in the game and Kelsey Sowa would have 3 - all in the second quarter. The scoring can be overwhelming for the opponents at times and what was once a close first quarter can easily get to a 5 to 10 point lead in a matter of a minute or two. That is just what happened with Reinhardt in the second as the Eagles would go into the half leading 10-3 and they never looked back. 

The Eagles would score another two goals in the third against the one goal by the Rams which gave Reinhardt a 12-4 lead. Mia Griswold and Alyssa Klinger both scored in the third and were both assisted by Anna-Marie Gazzo. Reinhardt picked up another 6 goals in the third quarter led by Anna-Marie Gazzo and Jillian Mello with two each. Macy Fulton and Alyssa Klinger both scored a goal as well. The final would be 18-5 for the Eagles.

Jillian Mello would lead the Eagles in scoring for the game with 5 goals. She would also have 2 assists and 4 ground balls. Anna-Marie Gazzo and Kelsey Sowa would come in strong with 3 goals each and Shelby O'Neil and Alyssa Klinger had 2 goals each. Macy Fulton and Anna-Marie Gazzo would be tied for most assists with 3 each

It was another outstanding game from the Eagles and now they are ready for their big home match with Keiser on Monday afternoon. Monday's game will definitely have a playoff feel to it as two powerhouses meet to battle it out at Ken White Field.