Bears women’s lacrosse defeat Catawba to move to 3-0 in SAC

Hickory, N.C.--For the first time since the 2018 season, the Lenoir-Rhyne Women’s Lacrosse team is 3-0 to open conference play as the Bears defeated Catawba 18-9 in Moretz Stadium on Saturday. Kaitlyn Cavanaugh tied her careerhigh with five goals and Rylie McGhan had a careerhigh four goals for the Bears while Jolan Morey had two goals and four assists.

STATS OF THE GAME The teams traded goals to open the game before the Bears scored two straight to close the first quarter with a 3-1 lead.

The Indians scored the first and last goals of the second quarter but the Bears scored four straight in between which was the difference as the Bears took a four goal lead into halftime.

Catawba scored three of the first four goals of the second half to cut the lead to 8-6 but that would be the closest the Indians would get. The Bears scored six unanswered to close the quarter.

LR added four goals in the final frame as the Bears doubled up Catawba for the 18-9 win.

Cavanaugh scored three of her five goals in the third quarter and added two assists for seven points on the afternoon.

Freshman McGhan had just one career goal coming into today but added four goals for her first career hat track.

Morey had a season-high four assists and added a pair of goals for the Bears.

Teana Sieben made double-digit saves for the second time this season as she made ten stops in between the pipes today.

Bears forced Catawba into 17 turnovers as Chloe Christensen led the Bears with three caused turnovers.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:

For the first time since 2018, the Bears have started 3-0 in conference play. The Bears were a perfect 8-0 in the SAC that year.

Bears have won backto-back games for the first time during the 2023 campaign.

LR won their fifth straight against Catawba

Overall the Bears are 11-1 all-time against the Indians, the lone loss was an 11-10 overtime defeat during the 2017 campaign.

Cavanaugh is two goals shy of 50 for her career.

Today was Sieben’s 21st game with at least ten saves in goal as the senior is 80 saves away from the program record.

LR has scored 37 goals in the two games this week.

UP NEXT: The Bears will travel to UVA Wise on Wednesday for a 3:00 contest.