Women's Lacrosse Wallops Eastern Oregon on Senior Day

ATHENS, Tenn.- The women's lacrosse team played a team they had never played before on Wednesday. Traveling from the West Coast, the Eastern Oregon University Lady Mountaineers played on the home field of the Lady Bulldogs. It was also Senior Day for the team.

Tennessee Wesleyan took control of the game in the first quarter. The teams exchanged the first two goals of the contest, with Stephanie Rocha recording the first goal of the game. Then the Lady Bulldogs scored four goals straight and six of the last seven of the first quarter. Kate Buchannan broke the tie to start the scoring streak and Kylie Heinrich followed with a goal. Jozlyn Long was responsible for the third goal while Heinrich's second goal was the fourth straight goal. After an Eastern Oregon goal, Kaelyn Mays and Olivia Downey scored to give the team a 7-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Camille Crisp scored the first goal of the second quarter to move the lead to six goals. The opponents got in the goal again before another long scoring streak by TWU, this time six consecutive goals. Buchannan had two of the goals while Heinrich, Downey, Caylor Christman, and Crisp scored the remaining four goals in the scoring rally. Eastern Oregon scored the final score of the first half, making the score 14-4 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.

Defense came into play over the remaining 30 minutes of the game. A first half that saw 18 goals scored between the two teams turned into ten more goals between the two teams. Long had the first goal of the second half, giving the team their 15th goal of the game. Buchannan recorded the 16th goal for the team and Long scored her second goal of the quarter, this time off a Letty Karlsen assist. The goal at the end of the third was 17-6.

The team added two more goals to their commanding lead in the fourth quarter. Downey scored the first of the two with 10 minutes left in the game. Buchannan scored for the fifth time in the game, making the final score 19-9. This was the second consecutive win for the team.

Along with Buchannan's five goals, Heinrich, Downey, and Long each scored three goals. Rylee Brendlinger got the win in goal and split time with Olivia Galberaith. Each goalkeeper had one save in the game.

Tennessee Wesleyan will play their final home game of the season on Saturday. The team will host the No. 2 team in the NAIA, Reinhardt University, at 12:00 p.m.