The Belmont Abbey women's lacrosse team won today's opening round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament by a score of 17-6 over Lees-McRae.  The win improves the Abbey's record to 11-6 on the year, while Lees-McRae fell to 5-12.

The Bobcats scored the first goal of the game, but it only took Rebecca Luca 28 seconds to answer with a goal of her own.  Just 22 seconds after that Luca scored another goal on a free position opportunity to give the Abbey a 2-1 lead.  At the 22:22 mark, Lees-McRae tied the game at two.  Then Belmont Abbey went on an offensive surge, winning four straight draw controls and scoring four goals.  During the run, Luca and Rebecca Stromberg each scored a goal, and Katelin Glass scored twice to make it 6-2 Crusaders with 17:06 in the half.  Belmont Abbey would not give up that lead for the rest of the game, as Erin Kunkel set up Glass for a score at the 13:58 point.  After the teams went back and forth for a while, Mackenzie Miller found the net off a pass from Caitlin Cook, and the Abbey led 8-3 at halftime.

Lees-McRae scored a goal not far into the second half, but by the 27:01 mark, Luca scored two more goals for Belmont Abbey, giving the Crusaders a 10-4 edge.  After that goal, Belmont Abbey won the draw control and Glass scored on the ensuing possession to make it an 11-4 lead.  The teams then battled back and forth, until Glass scored her fifth goal of the day at the 19:02 point.  Less than a minute later, Glass gave Miller a pass that she scored on.  At the 17:55 mark, the Bobcats scored a free position goal, and the Crusaders responded with their own free position goal just 20 seconds later when Miller found the net, her third goal of the game.  Jordan Hofmeister would record the next Abbey goal at the 15:55 mark to make it 15-5.  At the 7:26 mark, Madison Eberhardt scored her first goal of the tournament.  Then with 3:11 to play Hofmeister scored her second goal of the day on a free position opportunity and the Crusaders took the game 17-6.

On the day, Glass and Luca each scored five goals, with Glass adding an assist.  Miller contributed three goals and an assist, while Hofmeister chipped in two goals.

Defensively, Kassie Easter led the Abbey with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.  Stromberg caused a turnover and picked up three ground balls, while Glass, Miller, and Bryn Kelly each picked up two.  As a team, Belmont Abbey won the draw control battle 17-8.  Stromberg led that category with five, while Glass won four.  Crusader goalies Reilly Johnson and Annie Brannon combined for three saves, as the Crusaders' tough defensive unit only surrendered nine shots.

Belmont Abbey will next travel to Gaffney, SC to take on Mt. Olive at 3:30PM on Saturday in a semifinal matchup.