Women’s Lacrosse routs Shorter in season opener, 16-7

ROME, Ga. – The Catawba College women's lacrosse team trounced Shorter, 16-7, to start its 2025 campaign on Saturday afternoon. The offensive blitz set season opener records for goals scored and margin of victory while notching Catawba's first-ever regulation win in game one.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba (1-0) battered the Lady Hawks (0-2) with 43 shots while giving up 25 attempts to the hosts

- The Catawba Indians were presented with 19 free position shots, scoring six times compared to Shorter's 4-for-14 outing

- The Lady Hawks held advantages in both draw controls (15-12) and ground balls (26-18), also earning fewer cards (12-10)

- Catawba forced Shorter to commit 27 turnovers and go 3-for-11 on clear attempts, while the visitors endured 17 turnovers and registered an efficient 4-for-6 clip on clears

- In goal, freshman Ava Kunza made 11 saves on a .636 success rate; Shorter's Alley Jones tallied 17 stops with a save percentage of .515

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Grace Virginia Deal amassed five points on four goals and an assist in her college debut, also nabbing two ground balls

- Abby Shuren picked up where she left off in 2024 with four goals while taking a game-high 12 shots – 10 were on goal

- Helena Cronemiller secured a brace on two scores with an assist as Kylie Harris also found paydirt twice and led the way with five draw controls

- Recording a team-high three ground balls was Audrey Adelsberger as the junior paced a pack of six Catawba Indians with multiple pickups

- Deal, Adelsberger, and Meredith Marchetti logged one caused turnover apiece

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

- An early Catawba yellow card opened the door for Shorter to score its first of three goals in the opening six minutes

- Shuren received a free position opportunity shortly after the visitors were whistled for a green card; the sophomore buried it, giving Catawba its first goal of the year despite being down a player

- The Lady Hawks provided a swift response from Rei Voight, but Ella McCusker and Harris provided scores to slice the Catawba Indians' deficit to one

- Annagrace Crane restored Shorter's multi-goal lead with 18 seconds remaining in the quarter, lifting the hosts to a 5-3 edge

Second Quarter

- Coming out of the break, Marchetti controlled the draw and Catawba orchestrated a goal from Cronemiller in just 22 seconds

- Skylar Mullin scooped up a ground ball off a Lady Hawk turnover minutes later before Deal tossed in the game-tying dart

- Kunza turned away the first Shorter shot on goal with 4:35 left in the half, setting up a Catawba possession that resulted in Deal tickling the twine with the go-ahead strike

- Allison Filosa fed Shuren for another score before halftime to further shift the momentum toward the Catawba Indians, whose four-goal second period thrust them into a 7-5 lead

Third Quarter

- Shorter exited the locker room with a rebuttal from Olivia Masters, but Catawba swung back with Deal and Shuren bullets to command a three-goal advantage

- The Lady Hawks capitalized on two yellows shown to the visitors using a Kaitlyn Dwyer-Pepper free position conversion

- Five turnovers by the home team over the next seven minutes hindered its comeback efforts as Rylie Faircloth hurled in her first career goal late in the stanza, keeping the gap at three

Fourth Quarter

- Cards plagued the Lady Hawks throughout the fourth frame, producing strikes from Shuren, Cronemiller, and Harris in the initial few minutes

- Mary Sorvillo added herself to the scoresheet, sending a pass from Deal to the back of the net to double up the hosts at a lead of 14-7

- Three free position shots were gobbled up by Kunza prior to a Shorter yellow and a Deal man-up goal with the helper tabbed to Cronemiller

- Following the Lady Hawks' 10th and final card of the contest, Judy Rose rifled a free position shot between the pipes with 3:07 to play, further solidifying a Catawba triumph in 16-7 fashion

UP NEXT

Catawba has an opportunity to match its best start in program history on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at Belmont Abbey. Opening draw is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Alumni Field.