After only scoring 11 goals through the first two games, Elon University’s lacrosse team exploded offensively, winning 17-6 against Virginia Commonwealth University.
VCU opened the game with a couple of promising looks but were thwarted by the Phoenix as VCU caused a few early turnovers. Four minutes into the game, Elon capitalized on its early energy as senior Lila Ceribelli opened the day’s scoring, mirroring how she scored the first goal of the season against Duke.
Elon dominated possession early on, winning the draw and were able to keep play on VCU’s side of the field for the most part. Its ability to win the draw and maintain possession throughout the first quarter allowed them to get 8 shots off to VCU’s 3 by the end of the opening period. Of the 8 shots, 6 of them were on goal. Elon’s defense played well, as VCU had 4 first quarter turnovers. Goalie Caitlin Walsh proved to be a brick wall, deflecting shots with her stick and even her leg, only allowing one goal in the first quarter.
Despite the uneven possession time, VCU played tough defense around the goal, forcing Elon to pass a lot and numerous possessions came all the way down to the very end of the 90 second shot clock. Senior Kailey McKenna broke through the defense and scored her first goal of the season. She notched another goal a short while later after an assist from senior Sammy Fisher, the team’s leader in points last season.
Going into the second quarter, Elon led 3-1 but its offense exploded in the following quarter, scoring 7 goals.
Fisher opened the quarter with a goal that she flung into the goal from the left side, twisting her body to get the look. Then everyone joined in on the scoring. Seven different players contributed to the scoring effort in the first half and 7 of the goals came off assists as Elon’s passing helped them set up a flurry of goals. Head coach Josh Hexter said the team focused on improving its perimeter ball movement in preparation for the game.
“It was a huge issue for us in the last game,” Hexter said. “We worked a lot on that, and they just did a really good job sharing the ball and letting the ball find the open person.”
McKenna also credited the ball movement and the sharing of the ball to the offense’s success against VCU.
“Our ball movement was huge today for us,” McKenna said. “We've been working on that all preseason, and I think today is really when we learned and applied that. We got a ton of people to score on offense, and I think our whole team just stepped up; Lillian on the draw, the defense. They really just helped us all work toward that common goal of winning each quarter.”
Freshman Addie Gilner, who had her first career goal in her debut against Duke earlier this year, scored a pair of goals. Another freshman, Danielle Swietoniowski, scored her first career goal. She got off to a hot start to the season against Duke, also, getting 4 shots on goal and finally found the back of the net against VCU.
The Phoenix dominated offensively in the first half and went into halftime with 15 more shots than the Rams. The key to victory was draw control as Elon won the draw 11 times to VCU’s three in the first half. After starting the season with two games where the Phoenix struggled with the draw, negatively affecting its offense, the team finished the game with 11 more draw controls. Hexter said the team made some adjustments and praised freshman Lillian Austin, who was on the center circle helping with the draw control, ability to secure the ball. Austin had seven draw controls on the day. McKenna said the success at the draw helped open up the offense more.
“Lillian and all the circle girls really stepped up today, and it's a huge momentum builder for us,” McKenna said. “We definitely feed off of good things on this team. So I think once we got that and got into our offense, we were really comfortable and just kept pushing.”
McKenna opened the third with her third goal, securing a hat trick. Only a few minutes later, after entering the game with zero goals this season, scored her fourth of the day.
However, the Rams didn’t go out without a fight. VCU bounced back in the third quarter, outsourcing Elon 4-3 in the quarter. The team also began to win the draw a bit more and forced a number of turnovers, as Elon ended up with 15 turnovers, which is four more than its season average. Elon still held a comfortable 7-goal lead by the end of the third quarter.
Four minutes into the fourth quarter, McKenna continued her stellar and historic day, scoring her fifth goal. After getting a career high 8 total goals last season, she scored 5 just in one game.
Hexter gave credit to McKenna and praised her ability to capitalize on opportunities inside the crease and near the goal.
“She found the open space and the ball found her,” Hexter said. “She does a great job of finishing inside and I’m proud of her for that.”
Elon scored 3 more goals in the fourth quarter to put the game away and get its first win of the season. The Phoenix will look to get another one in the win column against East Carolina at 5 p.m. Feb. 25 at Rudd Field, before taking on one of the best teams in the country — Notre Dame.
“I really think this was a big win for us, knowing that we had to face a couple postponements and start with a couple big games that we weren't necessarily fully ready for,” McKenna said. “But I think this is a great win, keeping this under our belt and moving into Notre Dame coming up next weekend.”