To describe the women's lacrosse team as an offensive powerhouse would be an understatement. In a 13-2 win, its high-powered offense defeated its latest victims, the Eagles of Mary Washington College, on Saturday afternoon.
In the process, the now third-ranked Lions extended their regular-season win streak to 40 after the win against their ninth-ranked opponent in Lions' Stadium. They have not lost a regular-season contest since March 22, 2001, when Amherst College crawled past them 8-7.
Sophomore Lauren Dougher helped the Lions improve to 4-0 on the season by scoring four goals and adding an assist. Mary Washington fell to 4-4 overall.
With about 20 minutes until the intermission, seniors Carin Heller and Katie Wagenblast and junior midfielder Lauren Gossner netted the game's first three goals, giving the Lions a 3-0 lead.
"There's a lot of balance on our team. There will be different leading scorers throughout the course of the season; many of the players have that capability," head coach Sharon Pfluger said.
The Eagles fired back when junior attacker Britt Gottlieb scored her 10th goal and 18th point of the season at 16:43, leading one to believe that the game would be a close one.
"They were very competitive and skilled and this was a hard-fought game," Pfluger added.
Sophomore Bridget Bigley connected on a pass from Dougher at 13:12 to make the score to 4-1 in favor of the home team. She had back-to-back goals, one of which was a free position shot at 7:34.
Gossner added the last goal in the half at 6:56, making the half-time score 7-1.
Dougher opened the second half by connecting on a pass from Wagenblast. After a quick goal by Mary Washington's Meagan O'Leary, the Lions finished the exhibition with five unanswered scores. O'Leary now has three goals and four points.
Dougher still leads the Lions in scoring with 21 points on 16 goals and five assists. The Lions' second-leading scorer, Wagenblast, recorded a pair of goals and two assists, becoming 12th all-time with 43 career assists.
Heller, who scored three goals, has 147 career points on 113 goals and 34 assists and is ranked 17th all-time in both goals and points, and 20th in assists.
Bigley contributed two goals and an assist. Sophomore goalie Megan Marquardt gave up the only of the two Eagles' goals in 56:52 with seven stops, while sophomore Paige Lucard allowed no goals and made two saves in 3:08.
Sophomore Robyn Lankford grabbed 14 saves for the Eagles, allowing 13 goals an hour of play.
"Today (Marquardt) had her best performance. She had great saves and has been very steady this season. Her counterpart (Lucard), who is also a sophomore has lots of potential as well," Pfluger added.
This is Marquardt's first season as a starting goalkeeper and she is quick to credit the ease of her transition to her teammates.
"The defense was amazing today, they make my job much easier," Marquardt said.
It was more of the same on Tuesday night as the Lions mauled the Bears of Ursinus College at home by a score of 16-4.
Dougher led the College with her personal best six goals as Wagenblast added four along with an assist.
The Bears (1-2) didn't score until there were four minutes left in the half. However, by that time, the Lions already had scored seven goals.
Dougher responded immediately by putting up a hat trick before the intermission, the last one scoring right at the horn. Five of her six goals scored came in the first half.
Ursinus fired back with three goals of their own nearly half a minute into the second half, but not before junior midfielder Lauren Gossner could score yet again for the Lions. She netted two and had an assist.
During the run for the Bears, senior attacker Emily Durkin scored one of her team-high two goals. She now leads the team with nine points and three assists.
Bigley was the final scorer of the game, contributing two goals.
At goal for the Lions, Marquardt gave up four goals in 42 minutes with a stop, while sophomore Paige Lucard gave up no goals and had no saves.
Senior Melissa Scholl recorded 11 saves for the Bears while allowing 16 goals. She stayed in the entire game.
The Lions will host Randolph Macon College on Friday, April 2 at 7 p.m. at Lions' Stadium.
