ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley women's lacrosse team dominated the first quarter and jumped out to a 6-1 lead in a huge 18-10 victory over visiting Misericordia University on Wednesday evening at Arnold Field in Annville.
 
The victory allows the Dutchmen (9-5, 4-0 MAC Freedom) to stay atop the conference standings and gives them a two-game lead over Misericordia (4-8, 2-2 MAC Freedom) and an important season tiebreaker. The Cougars are currently tied with Arcadia University for the fourth and final postseason spot.
 
After the Cougars won the opening draw control, LVC forced a turnover and then didn't allow Misericordia to possess the ball past midfield again for the next five minutes. Jamie Handwerger picked off a pass and sent the ball up field where Emily Beard found Molly Whisler open for the first goal of the game nearly two minutes in. Beard won the following draw control and Misericordia held strong on defense getting a turnover and save. However, Allison Keeney and Elizabeth Morgan caused turnovers on clear attempts to keep the ball in the Dutchmen attacking side of the field. Erin Zieber drew a foul and scored on a free position shot to make it 2-0.
 
Misericordia's first shot of the game went off the post and Hayley Cowles picked up the ground ball for the Dutchmen. Anna Lougee put LVC up by three with a free position goal and then Alyssa Wene made it 4-0 with an unassisted goal. Whisler then scored her second goal of the game off another assist by Beard to force the Cougars to call a time out with a five-goal advantage and six minutes left in the quarter. The Cougars came out of the timeout and got a big save from their goalkeeper on a shot by Beard. They cleared the ball and scored to cut the lead to 5-1. LVC was able to get the lead back to five goals at 6-1 as Beard scored on a free position shot with two minutes to go in the quarter.
 
The lead expanded to six as Bethany Cohee found Beard open from behind the net for the first goal of the second quarter a little over three minutes in. The Cougars won the following draw control and scored 40 seconds later. Zieber won the next draw and Beard scored her second free position goal of the game to bring the lead back up to six with 10:07 on the clock. After scoring three goals in a span of 1:40, neither team was able to score again until the final three minutes of the half. Misericordia ended the scoring drought before Wene scored right before the buzzer to give LVC a 9-3 halftime lead.
 
Misericordia won the opening draw of the second half and scored on the first possession to cut the lead to five. LVC responded with the next five goals to over the course of the quarter to build a 14-4 advantage. Zieber started the scoring with a free position goal with 13:12 left in the quarter. Hana Neff then scored her first goal of the game off a pass from Beard. The Dutchmen took advantage of a Cougar yellow card as Beard scored her fourth goal of the game to make it 12-4 with 6:37 on the clock. Misericordia was called for another card right after the draw control and Cohee found the back of the net for another woman-up goal. Wene eluded her defender and gave the Dutchmen the 10-goal advantage with an unassisted goal with five minutes to go in the quarter. The Cougars were able to score before the period ended to cut the lead to 14-5 heading into the final 15 minutes.
 
The teams traded goals in the first three minutes of the fourth. Misericordia scored first and then Wene tallied her fourth unassisted goal of the game. The Cougars managed to get the lead down to six as they scored the next three goals to make it 15-9 with eight minutes left. Beard stopped the run as Cohee found her over the middle for the second time. The Cougars responded quickly with a goal but then Morgan took advantage of a failed clear attempt and put the game completely out of reach with an unassisted goal with just under five minutes to play. Beard wrapped up the scoring with her third free position goal of the game in the final two minutes.
 
Inside the Box

• Beard had nine points on six goals and three assists. She was a perfect 3-3 on free position shots and won three draw controls. The three draw controls gave the senior 100 career draw controls.
• Wene finished with four goals on six shots and four draw controls. She has scored at least four goals in five games this year.
• Cohee had three points on a goal and two assists. It is the fourth consecutive game she has scored and dished out at least one assist.
• Zieber won a team-high seven draw controls and scored two goals. She is now third in program history with 216 career draw controls and is one away from second.
• Whisler scored twice while Lougee, Morgan, and Neff scored a goal each.
• Handwerger made three saves in goal and led the team with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
• Neff had three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
• The Dutchmen tied the program record they set earlier this year with just seven turnovers.
• LVC had a 38-20 shot advantage and a 17-4 advantage in ground balls.
• The Dutchmen were perfect on clear attempts going 19 for 19.
• LVC is now 8-1 all-time against Misericordia and has won the past eight meetings.
• The win keeps the Dutchmen atop the conference standings at 4-0 with three games remaining.

Up Next
LVC will host DeSales University on Saturday for Senior Day at Arnold Field in another big conference matchup. The Bulldogs are currently third in the conference standings at 3-1. Senior Day activities will begin around 11:45 a.m. with the opening draw control scheduled for 12 p.m. in Annville.

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