Freshman midfielder Emily Denaga and junior attacker Parker Moore each scored five goals as the Brevard College women’s lacrosse team (3-3. 1-0 USA South) won its USA South Conference opener with a 13-7 victory over William Peace University (1-4, 0-2 USAS) on a windy Saturday afternoon at Ives-Lemel Family Field.
Denaga, a freshman, scored five goals and won a game-high 10 draw controls with a career-high eight ground balls on the defensive end. Moore, a junior, scored five times alongside an assist for six points, which tied the game-high. KC Collins added two goals and an assist, while Savannah Colliver added a goal and a team-high two assists.
On the defensive end, Collins caused a team-high three turnovers and grabbed four ground balls. Freshman Dani Stavely and junior Grace Vaught also secured four ground balls each, and freshman goalkeeper Lexi Maclauchlin (3-3) made nine saves and earned her third career win as a starter for the Tornados.
William Peace’s offense ran through Madison Bradley, who scored six of the Pacers’ seven goals. Brittany Wortman logged WPU’s only other goal of the afternoon, while Aryal Brandon (1-4) made nine saves and had a team-best seven ground balls.
BC held a 32-25 shooting advantage over the Pacers and converted 13-of-20 clear attempts. BC’s defense forced 26 Pacer turnovers, while the sides were neck-and-neck in the ground ball battle, with WPU holding a slight 29-28 advantage. Brevard’s biggest advantage came on draw controls, as the Tornados won 15 to WPU’s eight.
Brevard scored the contest’s first goal quickly, as Denaga put the first goal in the back of the net just 16 seconds into the game. WPU answered with two goals of its own, taking a 2-1 lead just under two minutes into play at the 13:02 mark.
BC tied things up after Collins’ free-position shot before both sides traded goals. In total, six goals were scored within the first five minutes of the first quarter.
Things settled down for both sides before the Pacers broke through with a score at the 2:21 mark in the first quarter, as William Peace held a one-goal lead, 4-3, heading into the second quarter.
Brevard was able to score three well-earned goals and its defense shut out the Pacers in a pivotal second quarter of action. Denaga opened the scoring run up with a free-position goal that tied the contest at a 4-4 deadlock. Moore then scored her second and third goals of the contest on assists from Collins and Colliver, respectively, to close the second quarter out on a high note. Moore scored at the 9:51 mark before pushing BC’s lead up to two goals with just 42 seconds left before the halftime intermission, as the Tornados held on to a two-goal lead, 6-4.
The third period opened up with a Bradley goal for WPU, as the visitors cut the deficit to one goal, 6-5. Brevard would then score consecutive goals on Collins and Colliver’s unassisted scores, making the game an 8-5 affair. After a WPU goal, Brevard scored three-straight to pull ahead with a five-goal lead, 11-6. Denaga closed the third quarter out with back-to-back goals before Moore scored her fourth of the game to kick the fourth quarter off.
WPU’s Bradley scored her sixth goal of the contest with 8:28 left to play, but Brevard pulled away for good as Moore and Denaga each scored their fifth goals within a minute of each other, while BC’s defense shut out the Pacers over the game’s final five minutes to give BC a conference-opening 13-7 win.