LATROBE, Pa. (Apr. 21)- The Saint Vincent women's lacrosse team defeated the Thiel Tomcats 24-14 in a PAC matchup at UPMC Field.
 
The 24 goals for the Bearcats is a season best and the most goals scored since February 20, 2021, a game where they defeated La Roche 26-5.
 
Bridget Doyle led the way for Saint Vincent with a game-high 11 points, scoring five goals, while also assisting on six goals as well. Kaylee Bandow tallied seven points, with five goals and two assists, including the 100^th goal of her career.
 
Maggie Edwards (5 goals, 1 assist) and Carolina Walters (3 goals 3 assists) each totaled six points in the win for Saint Vincent. Hannah-Marie Starner added five points, scoring four goals with one helper and Caroline Mullineaux recorded three points with one goal and two assists.
 
Rachel Thatcher recorded two assists and Gabby Salandro had one assist coming off the bench as well. Georgie Volna tallied a team-best four ground balls in the win. Bailey Nicely picked up the win in net for SVC, making 13 saves, playing all 60-minutes.
 
Thiel scored the first two goals of the opening quarter to take a 2-0 lead, but the Bearcats answered. Saint Vincent scored eight unanswered goals to close out the first quarter with an 8-2 lead. Starner scored twice, Doyle scored twice, Edwards scored three goals, and Walters scored one goal as apart of that 8-0 run to close out the quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the teams traded goals. Thiel slightly outscored the Bearcats 7-6 in the high-scoring first half. After a Thiel goal to open up the second quarter, Bandow scored first for the Bearcats on an assist from Doyle to increase the Bearcats lead back up to six at 9-3.
 
Thiel then scored four goals in a row to cut the Saint Vincent lead to just two at 9-7. Doyle answered with a goal on an assist from Bandow to move the lead back to 10-7. Thiel once again answered with two goals of their own to cut the Bearcats lead to just one at 10-9.
 
The Bearcats closed out the quarter, scoring four unanswered goals to close out the quarter. Walters scored first on an assist from Starner, then Starner scored on an assist from Edwards to bring the Bearcats lead back to three at 12-9.
 
Doyle then scored on a helper from Mullineaux and Bandow scored with 33 seconds left in the half on an assist from Walters, giving Saint Vincent a 14-9 lead heading into the halftime break.
 
Out of the halftime break, Thiel once again slightly outscored SVC in the quarter. The Tomcats won the quarter 4-3, just cutting into the Bearcats lead slightly. Starner, Mullineaux, and Bandow scored the three goals for Saint Vincent in the quarter, with Bandow's goal coming on an assist from Thatcher as SVC held a 17-13 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
It was all Saint Vincent in the fourth quarter. The Bearcats outscored Thiel 7-1 in the quarter. Bandow scored twice in the quarter, as did Edwards. Walters, Mullineaux, and Doyle scored the other three goals in the quarter to close out the win for Saint Vincent.
 
The Bearcats totaled 41 shots, including 35 of those shots being on goal. SVC also forced 11 Tomcat turnovers and scooped up 16 ground balls and won 26 draw controls. The Bearcats also had eight free position shots in the contest as well.
 
The Bearcats return to action on Sunday, April 23 when they conclude their non-conference play with a matchup against La Roche on senior day. The match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at UPMC Field in Latrobe on Sunday.