NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Newberry College women's lacrosse team (0-1) welcomed the Emmanuel College Lions (1-1) to Setzler Field for the home opener. Defeated on the road by the Mountain Lions of Young Harris College 11-10 on February 11, the Wolves turned their attention to a team that came off of a victory against a fellow South Atlantic Conference member, Coker University, by a score of 15-10. Newberry would have their work cut out for them as the Lions came in having one of the more prolific scorers in Division II Women's Lacrosse, but with attacking prowess from young contributors as well, it would make for an interesting showdown.
The first quarter started off with a bang for the Wolves, as Newberry hit the score sheet first with a goal from Emma Jobs (Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada) at the 12:55 mark. A second goal was added almost three minutes later by Newberry's Lana Howell (Aurora, Colo.). The Lions' Justine Dorelas followed up with a goal of her own at 4:12, but the Wolves' Sierra Hummell answered from the free position with a goal less than 30 seconds later. Anna Gill from Emmanuel scored for the visitors as a response, but the rest of the quarter was dominated by the Wolves with goals coming from Cassell Richardson (Forest, Va.) from the free position and Olivia Travassos (Ontario, Canada).
Newberry and Emmanuel battled to a stalemate for the first four minutes of the second quarter until Jenny Bates (Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada) got the ball rolling for the home team. After a second goal from Hummell at 10:03, Lana Howell scored again with the assist from Ella Todd (Maple Ridge, Canada) almost a minute later. Ella Todd proceeded to add her name to the score sheet with a goal herself before play went on for three minutes. Marissa Plumer (Kent Island, Md.) tacked on more points for the Wolves with a goal from the free position at 5:52, and to complete the big quarter for the Wolves, Todd tallied another goal, her second, at 4:14 to take the game into halftime.
Another quarter resulted in another early goal for Newberry as Plumer secured a brace with a goal at 14:06, and following three minutes of play, Howell got her hat trick with a solo goal at 11:05. Dorelas of Emmanuel answered the Howell goal with one of her own, hoping to spark a comeback for the Lions, but Sierra Hummell had other plans, scoring from the free position at 6:09. Lauren Kuschel scored the fourth goal for Emmanuel at 2:47 before Mackenzie Watson (Tampa, Fla.) made it a 15-4 game to take the game into the 4th quarter.
The Lions started quickly in the final quarter, with Justine Dorelas getting her hattrick at 14:27, followed by Kuschel's second at 11:35. That would be the last time Emmanuel scored as Newberry controlled much of the rest of the way. It started with Travassos scoring her second goal with the assist from Ella Todd at 6:51, and it would be followed by a goal from Madison Miller (Ponte Vedra, Fla.), her first goal of the season, with the assist from Travassos. The last goal would be scored by Todd at 3:18 to complete the hat trick and dominant effort from the Wolves.
Women's Lacrosse will have two days to recover before traveling to Greenwood, South Carolina, for a 1 PM tilt against the Lander Bearcats on February 18.
