Fayetteville, N.C., - Boosted by a dominant first-half performance, the Transylvania women's lacrosse team closed out its spring break trip with an impressive 16-5 victory over the Methodist College Monarchs at Monarch Stadium on Tuesday night.

The victory propels Transylvania's record to 3-2 on the season while the Monarchs fall to 2-3 overall.

Salem Carlow led the Pioneers' offensive unit with a season-high five goals while Courtney Pontious and Lexi Havel each scored a pair of goals in the convincing victory.

On the defensive side of the ball, Harper Zeitz led a Pioneer squad that allowed a season-low five goals on Tuesday. The senior tallied six ground balls, three draw controls, two caused turnovers, and scored a goal in the Transylvania victory.

Transylvania got right to work in the first half as the Pioneers scored a staggering 12 goals while holding the Monarchs scoreless. Eight different Pioneers scored in the opening half, and among the scoring strikes were the first career goals from freshmen Vianne Koshoffer and Abbey Peterson.

A goal from Lindy Walker pushed the Transylvania lead to 13-0 less than two minutes into the second half.

The Monarchs were finally able to break through the Transylvania defense with a string of three straight goals early in the second half, but the Pioneers responded with a pair of goals from Carlow and Havel to keep the Methodist comeback attempt at bay.

Transylvania capped off the 16-5 victory with Havel's second goal of the day with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

Elyse Blue picked up her first victory of the season on Tuesday. In her first career start, the freshman tallied three saves and allowed just five goals in 60 minutes of action.

The Pioneers will now return home to prepare for a showdown with the rival Centre College Colonels on Thursday, March 19. The game between the Colonels and the Pioneers is set for a 7:00 p.m. start at Pat Deacon Stadium.

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