Box Score

Lexington, Va. - Junior attacker Meredith Freeman (St. Louis, Mo./MICDS) notched a game-high four goals as Freeman led No. 9 Washington & Lee University to a 17-6 season-opening win over No. 16 St. Mary's College of Maryland in non-conference action Saturday afternoon.

Joining Freeman in leading the W&L offense were junior attacker Britten Mathews (Richmond, Va./Collegiate) and senior midfielder Colleen Evans (Lexington, Va./Rockbridge County) as they each tallied a hat trick.  The Generals (1-0) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the contest's first nine minutes as Mathews notched two goals.

St. Mary's (0-1) responded in kind as junior attacker Nora Fallon-Oben (Silver Spring, Md./St. John's College [D.C.]) scored twice and senior midfielder Lauren Carrier (Crownsville, Md./Old Mill) added a goal and an assist to knot the game at 3-3 before senior attacker Emily Norris (Timonium, Md./Dulaney) gave the visitors a 4-3 lead with 14:03 left in the first half.

W&L closed out the first stanza on an 8-1 run to post a 12-5 advantage at halftime as Evans scored three consecutive goals in a two-minute span.

The Generals continued their run into the second half by rattling off five more unanswered goals to stake their run to 13-1 before senior Allie Zerhusen (Cockeysville, Md./Park) capped it with the Seahawks' sixth and final goal at 0:54.

Carrier remains on track to set an NCAA Division III women's lacrosse record for consecutive games with at least one goal this season.  She came into the season needing to score at least one goal in her first four games of 2009.  With her one-goal, two-assist performance today, Carrier extended her streak of consecutive games with at least one goal to 43 straight.  She started the streak as a freshman on April 15, 2006 with one goal and one assist in a 10-9 loss to Mary Washington.  The NCAA Division III record is 45 consecutive games set by Liz Baumbach of the University of Scranton from 2001 to 2003.

Fallon-Oben paced the Seahawk offense with two goals and two assists, while Zerhusen added a pair.

W&L edged the Seahawks in draw controls, 13-12, as sophomore midfielder Emmy Mathews (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) came up with a game-high six draw controls.  The Generals took 31 shots to SMCM's 18, while winning 16 of 21 ground balls.

Goalies Katharine Farrar (Lexington, Va./Episcopal) and Jennifer Linder (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) split equal time in goal for the Generals, combining for seven stops.  Freshman Colleen Simpson (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) got the start in between the pipes for the Seahawks, making five saves in 53 minutes.

The Seahawks will be back in action this coming Tuesday, February 24 when St. Mary's opens up the Capital Athletic Conference and home season with Wesley College at 3:30.