Box Score

Hickory, N.C.----The Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears had two players score five goals each Saturday afternoon en route to a 23-8 victory over the visiting Bulldogs of Wingate University in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action. The Bears improve to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the SAC. Wingate falls to 2-4 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

Kirsten Smith and Bailey Leonard had five goals each to lead the LRU offense, while Lauren Donovan contributed three goals and six assists. Claire Wach added three goals and three assists for the Bears.

Freshman midfield Logan Bounds (Salisbury, Md.) had three goals to lead the Wingate attack. Freshman attack Kaelin Evans (San Marcos, Calif.) added a goal and an assist for the Bulldogs.

The Bears jumped out to an 8-0 lead, getting two goals an assist from Smith nine minutes into the opening half. Bounds netted Wingate's goal with 18:36 remaining in the first half, while Evans added a goal 21 seconds later to make it 8-2. Goals from Bounds and freshman midfield Laura Swanson (Plantation, Fla.) cut the LRU lead to four at the 12:20 mark.

Lenoir-Rhyne answered with three straight goals, with Donovan scoring the first goal then assisting on the next two to make it 11-4 with 7:17 to go. Bounds scored with 2:18 remaining in the half, cutting the LRU lead to 11-5 at intermission.

Leonard scored in the opening minutes of the second half to push the lead to seven, but freshman attack Allie Holland (Ocala, Fla.) answered with a goal less than a minute later. Freshman midfield Morgan Insel (Plantation, Fla.) added a goal four minutes into the half for the Bulldogs, but LRU responded with six straight goals to take a 20-7 lead. Leonard had two goals in the spurt, while Donovan registered a pair of assists. Freshman midfield Kendall Sienon (Woodstock, Ga.) netted the final goal for the Bulldogs with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

Lenoir-Rhyne outshot the Bulldogs 48-15 on the afternoon, while holding a 38-18 edge in ground balls. Holland led the Bulldogs with five ground balls on the day. Amanda Cotto registered one save for the Bears, while Ashley Gruning added a pair of saves in the second half. Freshman Jayda Lynch (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) piled up 12 saves for the Bulldogs.

Wingate returns to action next Saturday, traveling to Newberry for a 2 p.m. start.