SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College women's lacrosse team made history on Tuesday afternoon, matching the program's scoring record and recording its first-ever clean sheet with a 25-0 victory over in-state NAIA squad Montreat.
TEAM STATS
- The Catawba Indians (6-7) boasted a wide margin in the shooting department, taking 37 shots with 32 on goal while holding Montreat (0-11) to three on-target attempts
- Catawba committed a season-low 11 turnovers and forced the Cavaliers to cough up possession 17 times
- On the clear, the blue and white went 10-for-11 as Montreat struggled with a 3-for-14 mark
- Catawba dominated the draw as exhibited by a 21-6 advantage in controls
- Madison Talmage saw her first career action in goal, making three saves to preserve the shutout; Montreat's Tayah Quinn notched seven stops in a complete game
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Four different Catawba Indians logged hat tricks as Kylie Harris led the way with a career-high six points on four goals and two assists
- Ella McCusker scored four times while Joey Baillie and Mary Sorvillo each found paydirt on three occasions
- Michaela Lantz tossed in a pair of goals and assisted on two more, totaling a career-best four points
- Rylie Faircloth stripped the Cavaliers three times and snatched up two ground balls, sending one shot to the back of the net
- Baillie and Emily Better hunted down six and five draw controls, respectively, to factor heavily into Catawba's .778 winning percentage
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
- Baillie won the opening draw to set up the offense as Harris drew a free position opportunity, executing flawlessly to take the lead in 49 seconds
- Sorvillo and Baillie bumped the gap to 3-0 with just over three minutes expired
- Baillie completed the hatty later in the period before Meredith Marchetti tickled the twine
- After converting another free position attempt, Harris fed McCusker for her third goal that brought the score to 10-0, activating a running clock
Second Quarter
- Quinn stopped shots from Faircloth and Charlize Skepple in the opening minute, but Catawba eventually struck again via Grace Virginia Deal
- Sorvillo bookended a hectic back-and-forth spell with her second and third scores, bringing the advantage to 13
- Following a Catawba turnover, the Cavaliers looked to heave the ball into their attacking half Faircloth picked it off; a minute later, the freshman fired home an unassisted dart
- Approaching halftime, Judy Rose won the final draw and helped set up a play for Skepple to score as the last seconds ticked off, making it 15-0 at the break
Third Quarter
- Chloe Ames drew first blood coming out of halftime between draw controls from Better, who delivered a goal of her own minutes later
- After logging an assist on Ames' score, Lantz distributed another to Harris midway through the stanza
- Tati Verity scratched her way onto the scoresheet shortly before Ames returned the favor to Lantz, assisting the senior's first goal of the day
- Like clockwork, Catawba won the ensuing draw and scored quickly as Ames secured the brace off a kick from Marchetti
Fourth Quarter
- The Cavaliers finally got possession into their offensive zone early in the fourth frame as Talmage denied shots from Marley Smith and Ruthann Stout
- Lantz, Harris and Skylar Mullin poured in goals on consecutive possessions in response
- Mullin pickpocketed the Cavs on the next draw, shortly before McCusker scored the program record-tying blast
- Following a timeout with 20 seconds to go, Montreat drew up one final play, threatening to thwart the shutout, as Stout fired a shot that Talmage turned away at the horn
UP NEXT
Catawba resumes its South Atlantic Conference schedule on Saturday, Apr. 12 at 3 p.m. against Limestone for the program's final home game of the season.
