NEW CONCORD – Sophomore Kiki Hall scored a team-high five goals as the Wilmington College women's lacrosse team earned their first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference win, beating Muskingum Saturday, 14-4, at McConagha Stadium.
"We found our rhythm early and focused on winning the draws and ground balls, and it made all the difference today," said Wilmington head coach Brett Yenger. "We handled the ball on attack and took smart shots which gave us the lead early, and it gave us confidence on both ends of the field. Overall, an exciting game, and we're thrilled to have won a conference game."
Neither team scored for the first nine minutes, but once the Fightin' Quakers broke through – the goals started to flow. Three different players – Stephanie Belz (Gahanna, OH/Lincoln), Loryn Bryson (Carlisle, OH/Carlisle) and Hall (Westerville, OH/Central) – scored in a 26-second span to give Wilmington a 3-0 lead. Two minutes later, Bryson found the back of the net again with the assist going to Belz.
Hall added two more first-half goals to help the Fightin' Quakers build a 6-0 lead before Muskingum finally tallied its first goal with 3:46 remaining in the half, and WC lead 6-1 at half.
Rachel Routzong (Urbana, OH/Urbana) opened the second half with back-to-back goals, the first assisted by Jenni Caporale (Louisville, KY/Ballard). Hall scored again to push the WC advantage to 9-1, before the Muskies scored again.
Wilmington responded with five straight goals to push its lead to 12 goals and Muskingum capped the scoring with two late scores.
Bryson and Routzong each scored three goals for the Fightin' Quakers, and Ashley Fox (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) tallied multiple goals for the first time in her career, adding two goals for WC. Caporale dished out a team-high two assists.
Megan Wieloch (Canton, MI/Plymouth) made three saves in the victory as Wilmington held the advantage on shots 33-16 and 28-8 in shots on goal.
Wilmington (3-11 overall, 1-4 OAC) travels to Otterbein 7 p.m. Wednesday for its final road game of the season.