CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley Women's Lacrosse team used a great start and then a strong fourth quarter to begin conference play with a 17-13 victory at DeSales University on Wednesday evening in Center Valley.
 
The Dutchmen (7-4, 1-0 MAC Freedom) handed the Bulldogs (10-1, 0-1 MAC Freedom) their first loss of the year behind a great team effort in cold and at times rainy conditions. Alyssa Wene got LVC out to a great start with a pair of goals in the first two minutes of play. After Gigi Ditsky saved a free position shot at one end of the field, Emily Beard scored on a free position at the other end to push the lead to 3-0 and force DSU to call a timeout with 10:26 on the clock. The Dutchmen came out of the timeout strong as Wene and Beard scored a pair of unassisted goals to make it 5-0 with nine minutes left. The Bullgogs were able to cut the lead to 5-2 on a pair of goals before Wene scored her second free position goal of the game to increase the advantage to four with a little over a minute remaining. DeSales scored with 21 seconds on the clock to make it 6-3 after the first 15 minutes.
 
The second quarter began with a pair of LVC goals by Wene and Elizabeth Morgan to get the lead back to five goals. Ditsky made a few huge saves, but the Bulldogs were able to sneak a couple of shots into the back of the net to cut the advantage to 8-5 with 9:49 left in the half. The Dutchmen stopped the run as Morgan eluded defenders and scored her second goal of the game. After Chloe Moser won another draw control for the Dutchmen, Beard added to the lead with another goal. DeSales scored on a free position shot with 4:31 on the clock before Morgan completed her hat trick a couple minutes later. The Bulldogs were able to score with a minute remaining to cut the lead to 11-7 at the half.
 
The first half of the third quarter was a defensive battle as the teams battled each other and the rain. As the sky started to clear, Beard scored the first goal of the half on a free position shot after she caused a turnover and picked up the ground ball on a clear attempt. DSU gained some momentum scoring three consecutive goals over a four-minute span to get within two at 12-10. Anna Ridlon and Allison Keeney caused turnovers on the final two offensive possessions of the quarter for the Bulldogs to send the game into the fourth.
 
LVC came out firing in the fourth and got the lead back up to five within the first four minutes. Morgan scored first before Wene blew past defenders for a goal. Morgan added her fifth goal of the game with 11:11 on the clock to make it 15-10. The Bulldogs got on the board in the quarter with 7:39 remaining to cut the lead to four. LVC responded right back as Wene scored after Moser earned a draw control. Katie DeWitt put the game away with a free position goal with 3:37 left to make the advantage 17-11. The Bulldogs were able to score twice over the final three minutes to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• Wene led the Dutchmen with seven points on seven goals. She scored on nine shots and won seven draw controls. Her seven goals are the second-most this year as she went over the 50-point mark for the season.
• Morgan had a career-high five goals on six shots. The sophomore now has 25 points on 20 goals and five assists this year.
• Beard scored four goals including a perfect 2-for-2 on free position shots. The fifth year also had two ground balls and a caused turnover.
• Moser had another great defensive game winning a game-high nine draw controls with two caused turnovers and one ground ball.
• DeWitt scored her 11th goal of the season with her fourth free position goal.
• Ditsky made nine saves in goal and held the Bulldogs to 3-for-6 on free position shots.
• The defense did a great job limiting the conference's leading scorer coming into the game, Christina DiGuglielmo, to just one assist and three total shots.
• LVC was 13-for-14 on clear attempts and won 22 of the 34 draw controls.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will be back on Arnold Field this Saturday for the team's Pink Game against King's College. The Dutchmen will hold a Moment of Remembrance of Lisa Beard at 12:40 p.m. before the opening draw against the Monarchs at 1 p.m.

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