Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College women's lacrosse team got off to a strong defensive start in its Conference Carolinas match against fourth-place North Greenville University on Friday night, holding the Crusaders to just one goal in the first 18 minutes of the match.
However, the Crusaders, led by one of the league's top goal scorers, Rachel Kellogg, got their offense cranked up late in the first half, and continued to roll through the final period of a 15-3 NGU victory at the Barton Outdoor Athletics Complex.
The Lady Bulldogs (5-8, 3-6), playing their first match under the direction of Barton men's lacrosse head coach Warren Shumate since the resignation of their coach last week, took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest on a goal by Brooke Lonergan, and increased their advantage to 2-0 with 19:25 left in the first half on Jenna Brunclik's 43rd goal of the season.
North Greenville (12-4, 7-2) finally broke through against the BC defense with 18:50 left in the opening period on Kellogg's first goal of the night. The Orlando, Fla., sophomore scored again on a free position shot with 11:14 left to play before intermission, tying the match at 2-all, and put the Crusaders into the lead a minute later on a goal off an assist from Beth Farrell. Kellogg finished the night with six goals, increasing her season total to 58.
Two straight NGU goals by Hanna Hawkins and one by Farrell increased the Crusaders' lead to 6-2 before Brunclik stopped the run with her second goal of the night on a free position shot with 33 seconds left in the first half. However, NGU scored a man-advantage goal with just eight seconds left in the period, sending the Crusaders to intermission with a 7-3 lead.
North Greenville held Barton scoreless in the final half while scoring eight goals of its own to pull away for the victory.
Katherine Mattena registered 10 saves in goal for the Lady Bulldogs, while sophomore Rebecca Fraser collected nine groundballs and won five draw controls.
North Greenville enjoyed a 31-14 edge in total shots. Barton was just 1-of-5 on free position shots, as NGU goalie Sydney Taylor counted several saves on those plays among her eight stops for the night.
Barton will return to action on Saturday, hosting Converse College in the final regular-season match of the year. The winner of the contest will earn the No. 6 seed for next week's league tournament, while the loser will fall into the No. 7 slot.
