The University of Delaware’s women’s lacrosse team brought plenty fire power in the 7-4 season opening win against Temple University on Friday.
Junior attacker Christine Long led the way for the Blue Hens as she had a hat trick in the game by scoring three goals. Long also had four points, one assist, five shots and one ground ball in the win.
Junior Midfielder Claire D’Antonio was right behind Long in the goals column as she scored two. D’Antonio had six shots, two points, one ground ball, one turnover and three draw controls in the game.
Two other Blue Hens scored goals in the win and they were junior attacker Sydney Rausa (1) and junior midfielder Mia DeRuggiero (1). Rusua also had one point in the game and DeRuggiero had three. DeRuggiero also had one ground ball and turned the ball over seven times in the game.
Blue Hens sophomore goal keeper Kate Brewster had a lot shots flying her way but she did a good job of rejecting most of the Owls attempts as she had four goals allowed and 20 saves in 60 minutes. Brewster also led the Hens in ground balls in the game with five. The Hens goal keeper also caused two turnovers in the win.
Senior attacker Caroline Farley turned in three draw controls in the win for the Hens.
Temple & UD Battle In Beginning But Hens Pull Away At The End Of First Half
The game started with a bang as the Owls scored the first goal in the half at the 1:26 minute mark.
Delaware would get the ball rolling around the 6:32 minute mark, as Caroline Farley secured a ground ball and passed to teammate Mia DeRuggiero who found fellow Hen Sydney Rausa who gave the Hens their first goal of the season. Rausa’s goal would tie the game at one at the 7:17 minute mark in the game.
Farley would again be a leader on a scoring drive at the 8:08 minute mark as she secured a ground ball again and this time it was Claire D’Antonio who would score a goal which gave the Hens a 2-1 lead at the 8:36 minute mark.
The Hens lead did not last long as Temple responded with a goal in the next minute to tie the game up at two.
The next Hens scoring drive started with D’Antonio successfully getting ball after the draw which then senior midfielder Sarah Comstock attempted a shot which missed wide of the net.
Farley would get the ball and she found Christine Long who found the net for the score which gave the Hens a 3-2 lead at the 10:59 mark.
At the 12:39 minute mark, Temple came back and scored a goal to tie the game up. After this goal, the Owls did not score a goal for the rest of the first half.
The Blue Hens did score goals in the rest of the half and it was four straight goals to be exact.
The next goal for the Hens came from Long who was assisted by DeRuggiero on the play. Long’s goal would give the Hens a 4-3 lead at the 17:52 minute mark.
The second straight goal again came from Long who was assisted on the play by Comstock this time and this increased the Hens lead to 5-3.
The Hens third straight goal came from DeRuggiero who was assisted on the play by Long which increased the Blue Hens lead to 6-3.
The Hens last goal in the half came from D’Antonio who made a free position attempt to increase the lead to 7-3.
Defense Stays Strong In Second Half and Hens Cruise to Victory
Temple made some noise in the second half when they scored a goal at the 13:35 minute mark but after that Delaware’s defense shut them down for good.
The second half was pretty much a defensive battle between the teams after Temple’s score with neither team getting a score after that.
As the seconds ticked down, Delaware remained tough in their defensive assignments and would cruise to 7-4 win.
Delaware will look to make it two straight victories as the team takes on Penn at Delaware Stadium on February 16th at 1:00pm ET.
Team Stats:
Shots: UD 23 & Owls 29
Shots on Goal: UD 13 & Owls 24
Saves: UD 20 & Owls 6
Turnovers: UD 25 & Owls 16
Clears: UD 22-31 & Owls 22-23
Ground Balls: UD 17 & Owls 29
Draw Controls: UD 9 & Owls 4
Free Position Shot: UD 7 & Owls 3
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