ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Winthrop Eagles score early and often against Longwood Wednesday evening to clinch a spot in the Big South Conference tournament with a 17-7 victory at Eagle Field.

Bianca Tedesco tied the Winthrop lacrosse single-game assist record in back-to-back contests with seven in wins over Presbyterian and Longwood.

HOW IT HAPPENED

·       Winthrop opened the contest on a four-goal run, which included four different goal scorers; McKenna Blick, Lauren Morris, Lauren Asher and Savanah Paton.

·       Longwood stopped the run with a pair of goals from Dana Joss and Ainsley Rowlison, 4-2.

·       The Eagles blew the contest wide open, putting up seven unanswered goals to take a commanding 11-2 lead.

·       The Lancers tried to stop the bleeding with Joss' second goal of the night at the 4:45 mark to make it an 11-3 game.

·       Paton would record a hat trick before the end of the first half to give the Eagles a 12-3 lead after 30 minutes of play.

·       Winthrop showed no signs of slowing down out of the break, putting up three quick goals from Lauren Asher, Alyssa Angelo and another from Paton to extend its lead, 15-3.

·       Longwood's Emily Cate Smith got Longwood on the board in the second half with a shot assisted by Taylor Blenckstone, 15-4.

·       Grayson McKenzie put up back-to-back goals for the Eagles, nearly 10 minutes apart, separated by a score from Longwood's Emma Johnson to make it a 17-5 game.

·       Longwood strung together a pair of goals, keeping Winthrop scoreless through the remaining 9:26 of the contest but the deficit was too large to comeback from and the Eagles won, 17-7.

NOTABLES

·       Savanah Paton was the game's leading goal scorer with four.

·       The Eagles had six players record two or more goals: Paton (4), Morris (3), Asher (2), Blick (2), McKenzie (2) and Molly Dankowski (2).

·       Alyssa Angelo and Ellie Dutton each recorded a goal in the win.

·       Longwood's Emma Johnson and Dana Joss led the Lancers offensively with a pair of goals each.

·       Alyssa Angelo and Lauren Asher were each credited with two caused turnovers, a team-high.

·       Asher also had a game-high seven won draw controls.

·       Bianca Tedesco goes into the final game of the regular season with 34 assists, the most in a single-season since 2018, when Kristen Shriver broke the single-season record with 58.

·       Freshman Ellie Dutton had a career-high three ground balls in the win, which was a Winthrop-most.
 

UP NEXT

The Eagles will close out the regular season with a non-conference matchup against conference opponent Gardner-Webb on Saturday, April 24. Prior to the 1 p.m. opening draw, Winthrop will honor the graduating class of 2021; McKenna Blick, Bianca Tedesco, Lauren Morris, Sara McGuire, Olivia Deaver and Rachel Miller.