LATROBE, Pa. (March 14) – In its 2022 home-opener, the Saint Vincent women's lacrosse team rode a balanced offensive attack to a 17-5 win over Waynesburg University.
 
Nine different players scored at least one goal for Saint Vincent (3-1), while the Bearcats out-shot the Yellow Jackets (0-2) by a 36-17 margin and forced 30 Waynesburg turnovers.
 
Joey Smith totaled six points, on three goals and three assists, to lead the Bearcats, while teammate Kaylee Bandow finished with two goals and three helpers. Emily Taylor turned in a 4-point day, with three goals and an assist, while Bridget Doyle scored three goals and Caroline Mullineaux two. Jessica Persin was a sixth SVC player to record a multi-point game, finishing with one goal and one assist, while Rachel Thatcher, Gabby Salandro and Hannah-Marie Starner all scored one goal apiece.
 
Smith, Doyle and Salandro tied for the SVC team lead with three ground balls each, while Taylor, Thatcher and Georgie Volna all caused two turnovers. Kyra Lipetzky and Juliana Tambellini split time in goal, with the former making two saves and the latter five.
 
Bandow got the scoring started early for the Bearcats, recording the game's first goal, assisted by Smith, just 58 seconds into the first quarter. It began a flurry of SVC goals, with Smith, Taylor and Persin all scoring over the next two minutes to give the Bearcats an early 4-0 lead. Taylor's second goal of the day upped the lead to 5-0 with 6:29 left in the first quarter, before Thatcher found the net with 5:12 left to make the score 6-0.
 
Waynesburg scored the final goal of the first quarter and first of the second to cut the deficit to 6-2, but the Bearcats responded with three goals in a four-minute span, with two from Doyle and one from Mullineaux, to up the lead to 9-2 at the intermission.
 
The teams traded goals over the third period, with Bandow, Smith and Taylor scoring for SVC, before the Bearcats outscored the Yellow Jackets 4-0 over the final 15 minutes to pull away.
 
Tori Meiklejohn figured in on all five Waynesburg goals, scoring four times and adding an assist, while Yellow Jacket goalie Anna Bradley finished with 12 saves.
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Wednesday, March 16, when they travel to central Pennsylvania to take on Wilson College beginning at 4 p.m.