FARMVILLE, VA – Katie Clark and Kristen Shriver each netted four goals Friday as the Winthrop lacrosse team downed the Longwood Lancers 15-4.
Winthrop's victory coupled with Liberty's victory over High Point sets up a showdown Sunday at 1 p.m. at Eagle Field for the regular-season conference title.
The Eagles extended their win streak to six games with the victory, improving to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the conference. Longwood fell to 5-10 overall and 3-2 in the Big South.
Winthrop got off to a strong start against the Lancers, scoring the first nine goals before Longwood was able to get on the board. Freshman Katie Clark got the scoring going for the Eagles, converting a free-position attempt. Jenna Kasmarik followed that with her only tally of the first half followed by another converted free-position from Logan McCarthy.
Abigail Blevins, Shannon Gallagher, Kristen Shriver and Clark each scored in a span of 2:20, putting Winthrop ahead 7-0 with 19:09 left in the first half. Blevins and Shriver each grabbed their second goals of the half, to give the Eagles the 9-0 advantage.
Longwood grabbed their first tally of the game with 8:31 on the clock. Clark netted her third of the half with 7:09 remaining, giving Winthrop a 10-1 lead. The Lancers scored the last two goals of the half to go into the break, down 10-3.
The Lancers grabbed the first goal of the second half with 22:05 on the clock to pull within 10-4, but that was the only goal they scored in the second half. Gallagher converted a free-position attempt with 20:48 to play to put Winthrop back up 11-4.
The Eagles controlled the pace of the game for the final 20 minutes and didn't score again until 11:18 left in the game as Kasmarik tallied her second. Just over a minute later Shriver grabbed her third and scored her fourth with 7:55 to play, giving the Eagles a running clock at 14-4. Clark capped off the Winthrop scoring with her fourth of the contest with 3:33 to go, reaching the 15-4 final.
Katie Clark finished with five points with four goals and one assist while Kristen Shriver also tallied four goals. Gallagher, Abigail Blevins and Jenna Kasmarik each netted two while Logan McCarthy scored once.
Girani had another strong day in goal, totaling seven saves and also picking up four ground balls in the victory. Freshman Katherine Judge had three ground balls and also forced four turnovers.
