WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark University women's lacrosse team gathered its second straight win of the season on Wednesday night as first-year Elysia Hall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Iris Knowles (Clifton, N.J.) combined for ten goals to lead seven different goal scorers as the Cougars stampeded to a 22-7 non-conference victory on the road against Rivier.
The Basics
Score: Cougars 22, Raiders 7
Records: Clark University (2-0, 0-0 NEWMAC) | Rivier University (0-1, 0-0 GNAC)
How it Happened
Hall went off for five goals on 12 shots and an assist in the victory while Knowles also tallied five goals on eight shots in the team's second contest. First-year Kiley Simmons (Atkinson, N.H.) added to the list of multi-goal scorers in the game, finding the net four times. The team finished with seven different goal-scorers in all with junior Anna Joyce (Hopkinton, Mass.), first-year Dana Miller (Oak Ridge, N.J.) and sophomore Ilah Hardersen (Buckley, Wash.) all scoring multiple goals.
The Cougars came out on fire for the second straight game, putting in six straight unanswered goals with Hall, Simmons, and Knowles each collecting two goals apiece in the opening seven minutes of play. Rivier attempted to mount a comeback, scoring three of the next four goals with Hall interrupting the run by finishing off her second hat trick of the season with a goal at the 10:31 mark in the first half.
The Cougars went on to collect two straight goals with Hardersen and Miller each finding the net before the Raiders scored twice to end the half with a 9-5 score in favor of Clark headed into the intermission break.
The Cougars matched the high-energy from the first half as the team scored five straight goals, started by Hardersen as she snagged her second in the game just nine seconds into the half. Knowles would complete her hat trick just 30 seconds later to make it an 11-5 advantage before Clark closed out the spurt with goals from Hall bookending a marker from Joyce for a 14-5 lead with 23:29 to go in regulation.
After the long string of goals from the Cougars, Rivier's Dzenana Omerovic tallied her third goal of the game before Knowles notched her fourth of the contest to up the ante for the Cougars. Omerovic would get one more before Clark closed out the last 21 minutes of the game keeping Rivier scoreless and netting seven more unanswered goals with Simmons supplying a pair herself down the stretch to help boost the team to the 22-7 outcome.
Senior Maggie Paul (Falmouth, Mass.) collected her second win in net as she turned away two shots in the contest while Rivier's goalie, Shea Kingsley, end up with 20 saves in the contest on 42 shots faced. Clark finished 17-for-20 on the faceoff circle (82.75%) while outshooting Rivier by a 57-10 spread.
Up Next
The Cougars return home for a contest against Maritime Academy (N.Y.) at Granger Field under the lights starting at 7:00 pm.
