WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College women's lacrosse team opened Presidents' Athletic Conference play with a 16-4 victory over Franciscan University on Wednesday evening at Alexandre Stadium.
The win improves W&J to 3-0 overall while Franciscan drops to 1-1 in 2021.
The Barons scored first, using a goal by Annie King less than five minutes into the game to a take the 1-0 lead. However, the Presidents dominated the remainder of the first half, as the Red and Black ripped off the final 11 goals of the first half.
Clara Sherwood (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) scored first for W&J to even the score.
Amanda Effland (Frederick, Md./Frederick) and
Sadie Firman (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union) then followed with back-to-back scores to give W&J a 3-1 edge. A little later in the half,
Sarah Labovitz (Great Falls, Va./The Bullis School) tallied back-to-back goals to push the lead to 6-1 with 8:49 left in the half. Sherwood tallied three straight goals to end the half. Her final tally made the score 11-1, which enforced the running clock.
Four different Presidents scored in the second half as W&J outscored Franciscan by a 5-3 margin over the final 30 minutes. Effland was the lone President to find the scoring sheet multiple times in the second half.
Sherwood scored a team-high five goals in the victory. The junior added three caused turnovers, two draw controls and two ground balls. Effland produced a team-high six points (3 goals, 3 assists) to aid the offense.
Aisa Uhler (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) scored three goals in the match.
Sam Casile (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) finished with a team-best five ground balls and two caused turnovers to pace a strong defensive effort by the Presidents.
Kaitlyn Brown (Charlotte Hall, Md./La Plata) made six saves in 60 minutes of work in the cage.
The Presidents held major advantages in shots (36-17), shots on goal (25-10), ground balls (25-19) and draw controls (13-9).
W&J travels to Bethany College for a PAC match on Wednesday, April 7. Start time is set for 7 p.m.
