Box Score Lexington, KY – The streak is up to 10 games for the Transylvania women's lacrosse team, who took care of the Thomas More College Saints, 17 to 4 in another lopsided victory.
The Pioneers improved to 10-2 with the one-sided triumph, growing their program-record winning streak to 10 games with seemingly no end in sight.
Like many of their double-digit victories over the course of the winning streak, the Pioneers enjoyed a complete effort from their entire roster. Senior Rachel Harrison and freshman Emma Oliver each had outstanding statistical nights, with each posting five goals as they found openings in the fan time and time again. Harrison was superlative on both ends of the field, adding six ground balls and three won draw controls.
Oliver matched Harrison on the defensive end with a team-high eight ground balls, matching her game totals from each of her last two games. Oliver also caused two turnovers on a soaking-wet night at Pat Deacon Field when the ball refused to stick in anyone's cross.
Oliver and Harrison's defensive contributions powered Transylvania to a one-sided 40-13 advantage in ground balls. Thomas More experienced the majority of clearing challenges, going 6-for-18 in rides, while the Pioneers were about as meticulous as possible on clears considering the circumstances, with a 77 percent clearing rate.
Sophomore Julia Ward and seniors Lucy Meredith and Jessica Bier all chipped in with two goals each. Freshman Alexis Rubin also scored a goal, by which time the game had already shifted in clear favor of Transylvania.
The onslaught came swiftly for the Pioneers who collected a 7-0 lead less than 17 minutes into the contest. Harrison achieved her hat-trick with 23:18 left in the first half in addition to a Ward goal that put Transylvania ahead 4 to 0. Lucy Meredith scored her first goal at the 19:42 mark of the first half, and Ward struck again to expand Transylvania's lead to 6-0. Oliver began her personal surge with the seventh goal of the game for the Pios with 13:36 left in the first.
Thomas More answered late in the first half with two goals inside the nine-minute window, but goals by Oliver and Rubin continued to move the train forward.
Transylvania continued their offensive mastery into the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to commence the proceedings. Meredith scored for her second goal of the night and was followed by two straight scores from Bier. Transylvania allowed two more goals by Thomas More before closing out the game with their second-largest margin of victory this season.
Transylvania outpaced the Saints in nearly every major category, outshooting the Saints 32 to 11, securing three more draw controls, and winning the turnover margin by eight.
The Pioneers now turn ahead to the home stretch of their season with exclusive Ohio River Lacrosse Conference matchups. The Pios will be tested with two straight road games over the next week before wrapping up their regular season with home games on back-to-back days beginning April 23rd.
Transylvania's next match comes on Sunday, April 10th at Thiel with a scheduled 10:30 am start.
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