DAVIDSON, N.C. -- In a matchup of two head coaches who were former teammates, Loyola College's Kerri O'Day got the best of the Betsy Economou Wildcat squad in a 20-9 decision at Richardson Stadium in women's lacrosse action as Davidson opened its home schedule on Sunday. Both O'Day and Economou were teammates at Loyola College during their playing days, as was one of the Greyhounds assistant coaches.

Davidson fell to 1-1 on the season in the program's first meeting between the two schools. Loyola split its two weekend games to improve to 1-1. The Greyhounds had played at North Carolina on Saturday.

Senior Emily Diefendorf and sophomore Haley Cook each scored three goals apiece to pace the Wildcat attack. Both players nearly brought the Wildcats back from a 10-4 deficit at the start of the second period.

Trailing 10-4, Cook got the second half scoring underway with her second goal of the game at the 25:43 mark to bring the score to 10-5. Four minutes later, the sophomore netted her sixth goal of the season on a free position shot and Davidson was within four.

Diefendorf then kept the momentum rolling for Davidson by getting in on the scoring with a strike at the 18:42 mark and the Wildcats were down just three, 10-7, forcing a Greyhound timeout.

Out of the timeout, Loyola's Mary Heneberry, Colleen O'Keefe and Emily Gibson responsed by scoring three consecutive goals to push the Greyhounds lead back out to six at 13-7 with 13 minutes left in the game.

Junior Claire O'Shea got the Wildcats back on the board with her first score of the season off a free position shot at the 12:52 mark, but from there it was all Loyola as they scored seven of the next eight goals for the 20-9 win over Davidson.

O'Keefe scored one of the seven Greyhound goals in the last 12 minutes to finish with a game-high four. Kate Filippelli did all of her scoring in the first half, netting two of the first three Loyola goals and finished next with three.

Rounding out the Wildcat scoring was sophomore Jen Crawford, who pushed her season goal total to a team-best seven after tallying two on the afternoon.

Senior Laura Johnson and sophomore Michelle Pav combined for 11 saves for Davidson, while Megan Steffe record all seven of Loyola's goalie saves.

Loyola won in the shots category, 40-21, but the Wildcats did win the groundball battle, 16-15. Davidson was successful in three of its seven free position shots and ended up forcing 13 Greyhound turnovers.

Davidson remains at home as it will host American on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. Last year saw American take a 9-5 decision to open the season against the Wildcats.

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DAVIDSON, N.C. – Colleen O'Keefe scored four goals, and two other Loyola players found the net three times, as the Greyhounds defeated host Davidson, 20-9, Sunday afternoon at Richardson Stadium. Loyola (1-1 overall) took an 8-2 lead lead in the first 23 minutes of the game, as Kate Filippelli, Alicyn Brunnett and O'Keefe each scored twice.

"We were able to work today on our transition game today," Head Coach Kerri O'Day said. "We fed the ball well and worked well when we had possession, too."

Kate Filippelli scored the first goal for the second game in a row, taking a pass from Abby Rehfuss and beating Wildcats' goalkeeper Laura Johnson 26 seconds into the game. O'Keefe made it a 2-0 game 4:08 into the game on a free-position shot, and Filippelli scored again, this time unassisted, 1:09 later.

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2008-02-17