BALTIMORE – Persistent rain showers did not keep the #20 Loyola women's lacrosse team from a fast start on Sunday against Davidson, as the Greyhounds held the visiting Wildcats scoreless for over 15 minutes to begin the game, building a 7-0 lead before going on to a 20-3 victory on Diane Geppi-Aikens Field.

Grace Gavin, Emily Gibson and Mary Heneberry each scored twice, and Mary Clare Taylor added a single goal, in the first 10 minutes of the game, staking Loyola (4-1 overall) to a 7-0 lead.

"I thought that after an eight-day span between games, we came out with a great deal of intensity. We competed hard from the opening whistle until the last," Head Coach Jen Adams said. "I thought that again we showed a very balanced attack and we made good decisions while still being very aggressive."

After Davidson's Liz Wall scored on a free-position attempt, Maura Kenny scored twice for Loyola, starting a 6-0 run. Abby Rehfuss and Colleen O'Keefe added goals during that stretch, and Gavin scored twice more, giving Loyola a 13-1 lead with just under a minute left in the first half.

Jen Crawford scored the second goal for Davidson (5-3) with 25 ticks left before the break, but Loyola scored the next seven goals in the second half. The Wildcats did not score again until Crawford broke through with just 14 seconds left in the game, a span of over 30 minutes.

Gavin finished with a game-high five goals and two assists, while Gibson tallied three goals, Heneberry, Kenny and Caroline Hager each scored twice.

Mary Clare Taylor, Meg Taylor, Rehfuss, O'Keefe, Virginia Weber and Christian Carr each added goals for Loyola. The goals by Weber and Carr were the first of their Loyola careers.

Loyola's defense forced Davidson into 27 turnovers – and the Greyhounds were credited with a season-high 24 caused turnovers. The Greyhounds also set a season-high with 33 ground balls. Davidson was able to clear the ball just eight of 26 times.

Cara Filippelli led the Greyhounds with four caused turnovers and four ground balls, and O'Keefe matched her with four ground balls. Gavin and Meg Taylor each caused three turnovers.

The 17-goal victory was the largest by a Loyola team since the Greyhounds defeated American, 25-4, on May 1, 2002. Loyola is back in action on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, when it hosts 14th-ranked Cornell at 3:00 p.m.

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DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Greyhounds' Emily Gibson, Mary Heneberry and Grace Gavin each scored two goals apiece in the first 10 minutes of action and No. 20 Loyola (Md.) went on to score 13 first-half goals on its way to a 20-3 decision over the Davidson Wildcats on Sunday afternoon in women's lacrosse action.

Davidson, playing its fourth game in a seven-day span, fell to 5-3 on the year, while Loyola improved to 4-1.

The Wildcats fell behind 7-0 early, before their first goal at the 14:59 mark in the first half, but never were able to regroup as Loyola went into halftime up 13-2. The Greyhounds then scored the first six goals of the second period on their way to the 17-goal win.

The 'Cats were led in scoring by junior Jen Crawford (Mountain Lakes N.J.), who tallied her team-leading 18th and 19th goals of the season.

Freshman Liz Wall (Fort Washington, Pa.), who recorded her first two collegiate goals in Davidson's win on Thursday over Suny Cortland, registered the Wildcats' third goal.

Gavin finished with a game-high five goals and two assists for the Greyhounds, while Gibson tallied three goals, Heneberry, Maura Kenny and Caroline Hager each scored twice.

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2009-03-15