LAURINBURG, N.C.-The St. Andrews Presbyterian College women's lacrosse team scored the first three goals of the game and held off every comeback attempt by Belmont Abbey College en route to a 9-7 Conference Carolinas victory on a wet and chilly Saturday afternoon.

Senior Katie Wright (Waterloo, N.Y.) and sophomore Kim McDaniel (Joppa, Md.) each had a hat trick and one assist to lead the Lady Knights to their third straight victory. SAPC improves to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference after defeating a BAC team that started the season ranked No. 10 nationally.

Senior Shannon Farden (Oswego, N.Y.) led the Crusaders offensively with three goals but the Abbey still had hits four-game win streak snapped slipping to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the league.

St. Andrews dominated play in the first half building a 5-1 advantage at the midway break. Wright started the Knights scoring on a free-position shot and then completed her hat trick with two goals in a one-minute span. Senior goalkeeper Eryn McCaffrey (Cicero, N.Y.) and the Knights defense held the Crusaders offense, which was averaging 17.0 goals/game heading into Saturday's game, to just one free-position goal by Farden in the first 30 minutes.

The Abbey rallied back after the intermission with four of the first five goals in the second half to pull within one, 6-5. Farden completed the run with her third goal of the day with 15 minutes left.

Senior Kelsey Binggeli (Newark, N.Y.) was unavailable for St. Andrews in the first half but she made her presence felt in the second half, stopping the Crusaders comeback attempt with an unassisted goal with just over 11 minutes on the clock. McDaniel netted a free-position goal a minute later to increase the Knights lead back to three goals. Freshman Laura Dowd (Davidsonville, Md.) scored 21 seconds later to inch Belmont Abbey to within two, 8-6, heading into the final10 minutes.

The Crusaders hurt their chances at rallying by taking four penalties in the late stages of the game that gave St. Andrews over four minutes of extra-player advantage. Binggeli scored her second goal while the Knights were a player-up to insure the victory. Belmont Abbey junior Tara Chmil (Lake Mary, Fla.) scored with 94 seconds to go to cut the final margin of defeat to two goals.

McCaffrey (5-3) made 10 saves for her fifth victory. Freshman counterpart Sarah Wheat (Crofton, Md.) took the loss in the start allowing nine goals in just over 53 minutes of action. Wheat had nine saves.

The two teams played an even game statistically as both squads took 26 shots. Belmont Abbey had a 16-15 ground ball edge but SAPC won more draw controls, 9-8. The Knights were 2-for-5 on free-position shots while the Crusaders were 2-for-4.

Knights' junior Kerrie Brown (Irondequoit, N.Y.) had one goal. Senior defender Alexa Muraida (Austin, Texas) chipped in with three caused turnovers and three ground balls.

Chmil and senior Samantha Hooker (Salisbury, Md.) both had one goal and one assist for the visitors. Junior Laurie Jordan (Davidsonville, Md.) added a goal while senior Meghan Darley (Oviedo, Fla.) provided one assist.

St. Andrews hosts Conference Carolinas rival and No. 4 nationally ranked Limestone College on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. The Knights will try and avenge a close 15-14 loss to the Saints from earlier in the season.

2009-03-14