Women’s Lacrosse falls to nationally-ranked Belmont Abbey

BELMONT, N.C. – The Catawba College women's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season at Belmont Abbey, 22-6, on Tuesday night at Alumni Field.

TEAM STATS

- Belmont Abbey finished with a 35-13 advantage over Catawba (1-1) in shots, burying 62.3% of its attempts

- The Catawba Indians lost the turnover battle 22-15 and was bested 21-13 in ground balls

- Catawba was successful on 11 of its 16 clear attempts, while the Crusaders went 14-for-18 on the clear

- Draw controls were even at 15-15 and penalties were nearly identical as Catawba totaled three cards for six minutes compared to Belmont Abbey's four cards for five minutes

- Ava Kunza totaled five saves on 27 shots faced by the visitors versus the four saves on 10 chances by BAC's Summer Eddinger

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Abby Shuren made an impact on both sides of the ball, scoring twice while collecting three ground balls and two caused turnovers

- Skylar Mullin recorded a team-high three points with one goal and two assists, picking up two ground balls while also tallying two takeaways

- Ella McCusker found paydirt on her lone shot and dished out a helper as Joey Baillie and Grace Virginia Deal rounded out the goal scorers

- Kylie Harris logged an assist while splitting the team high of three draw controls with Audrey Adelsberger

- Meredith Marchetti snatched up three ground balls, sharing the lead in the category with Shuren

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

- The Abbey struck three times in the first four minutes, the third goal occurring via free position shot

- After the Crusaders won the ensuing draw, Catawba forced a turnover and a successful clear set up Harris to find Shuren for the visitors' first dart

- Katelyn Miller added her second goal of the evening and Addyson Greenspan tacked on her first to wrap up the period with The Abbey ahead 5-1

Second Quarter

- Catawba capitalized on two shotless Crusader possessions with Mullin's first career goal 2:20 into the quarter

- The blue and white commanded possession off the next draw and Shuren tickled the twine with an assist tabbed to McCusker

- McCusker found the back of the net herself two minutes later stemming from a Mullin feed, slicing the deficit down to 5-4

- Belmont Abbey piled on six goals in the last nine minutes before halftime, stretching its lead to seven at the break

Third Quarter

- Mullin found Deal for a man-up goal shortly after starting the third stanza thanks to an Abbey turnover and green card

- The Crusaders poured in three more scores until Baillie halted the run with a free position strike

- Faith Piser's goal a minute later cancelled it out, restoring the gap back to nine at 15-6 with 15 minutes left

Fourth Quarter

- It was all Belmont Abbey in the fourth frame as the Crusaders scored on seven of their eight shots

- Abbey McCarthy buried the contest's last two goals – both assisted by Emerson Sheyda – to finalize a 22-6 victory for The Abbey

UP NEXT

Catawba returns to action next Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Southern Wesleyan for a non-conference match at 5 p.m.