ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop lacrosse team scored a season-high 19 goals Sunday afternoon en route to a 19-7 victory over the VCU Rams.
With the victory, Winthrop improved to 2-2 on the season while the Rams fell to 1-3.
Nicole Beatson got the Eagles on the board just over two minutes into the contest with a free-position goal. VCU got the next two goals, going up 2-1 with 24:15 left in the half. Winthrop then went on a scoring tear, grabbing the next four goals of the contest. Kristen Shriver found the back of the net twice along with Bianca Tedesco and Katie Clark to put the Eagles up 5-2 with 18:40 on the clock.
VCU grabbed two of the next three goals to pull within at 6-4 but Winthrop closed the half strong offensively. Beatson scored back-to-back goals, putting the Eagles up 8-4 and the scoring was capped off by Shriver, giving Winthrop a 9-4 lead at the break.
Winthrop continued its strong offensive performance to start the second half, scoring the first three of the period. Ellie Marindin tacked on two for the Eagles while Beatson netted the other goal, giving Winthrop a 12-4 lead with 21:46 on the clock.
VCU was able to score three of the next four goals to pull back within 13-7 with 13:24 left to play but the Winthrop defense shut the Rams out for the remainder of the game.
Winthrop scored the final six goals of the contest to reach the 19-7 final. Over the last 13 minutes, Sydney Cope scored twice and Clark, Beatson and Judge each scored once. Ann Marie Langrehr also scored her first career collegiate goal.
Beatson finished with eight points on six goals and two assists and was a perfect 3-for-3 on free-position attempts. Clark and Shriver each grabbed three goals apiece while Marindin and Cope finished with two. Katherine Judge scored twice and picked up six draw controls and five ground balls while Paige Jenkins had four ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Winthrop outshot VCU 32-17 and dominated on ground balls 19-9 and draw controls 16-11. The Eagle defense forced 12 turnovers in the win.
The Eagles will close out their four-game home stretch on Friday evening with a 7 p.m. contest against the Oregon Ducks.
