Box Score by Benny Benton
BANNER ELK, N.C. – The Barton College women's lacrosse team put up a strong fight in the first half of its match at Lees-McRae College on Sunday before fading in the second period of a 14-4 Conference Carolinas loss.
The Lady Bulldogs (0-7, 0-6) trailed just 4-2 after Kelly Dolan's unassisted goal with 1:05 left in the first half before Lees-McRae (2-3, 1-2) tacked on a late goal to take a 5-2 advantage into intermission.
Barton enjoyed a 13-10 edge in total shots in the period, including a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal, and forced the Bobcats into 19 first-half turnovers. However, Lees-McRae goalie Dayna Decesare turned away nine Barton shots in the period, including a free position attempt with four seconds left in the half, to keep the Bobcats in front.
Lees-McRae added two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second period to stretch its lead to 7-2. Barton's Kianna Jimenez found the net with 18:48 left in the match to cut BC's deficit to 7-3, but the Bobcats got the goal back less than a minute later, and would roll off six straight over the next fifteen minutes to put the match away.
The Bobcats held a significant advantage in free position shots, converting 8-of-11 attempts while Barton was 0-for-4. All four BC attempts were stopped by Decesare, who finished the match with 16 total saves.
Jimenez scored two of Barton's four goals and Alyssa Torres added a goal. In addition to her first-half goal, Dolan assisted on two others while also recording four draw controls, four ground balls and two caused turnovers
Torres and Aryanna Fahnestock both added four ground balls while Rebecca Fraser collected a game-high six. Barton goalie Kia Morris recorded six saves.
Sara Henderson paced Lees-McRae with four goals and two assists, while Constance Madden chipped in three goals.
The match ended a three-match road swing for the Lady Bulldogs. Barton will return home for a pair of matches this weekend, beginning Friday with a 6 p.m. non-conference match against NCAA Division III program Hollins (Va.) University.
