ANDERSON, S.C. -- Returning home to the friendly confines of Spero Financial Field for the front end of a rare two-day two-game stretch for the Anderson University (11-2) women's lacrosse team, the Trojans were able to take down their first opponent of the weekend in Viginia State (4-6) by a score of 17-3 on Friday, April 5.
Sophomore Alicia Cannon (Tarazana, Calif.) led all scorers on the day with seven points split across five goals and a pair of assists. Fellow sophomore Sophia Santagata (North Port, Fla.) turned in a trio of scores on the afternoon while freshman Ava Skeffington (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore Lili Bouwma (Grand Rapids, Mich.) each turned in a pair. The Trojans used three different goalies in the cage, with sophomore Ava Drath (Hudsonville, Mich.) picking up the win in the contest, posting a shutout for the entire opening half of action.
Anderson wasted no time opening up an early advantage in the contest as they were able to post three goals in the opening two minutes of action, all with different goal scoreres. Two more goals found their way into the back for the net for the Trojans before a pair of man-advantage goals increased their advantage to 7-0. The Black and Gold snuck one more goal past the Virginia State keeper in the opening 15 minutes of action, taking the 8-0 lead into the second quarter. The offense slowed down a little bit for Anderson as they settled in but were still able to post five goals in the frame to boost their lead to 13-0 heading into the halftime break.
The Black and Gold were boosted by an early goal from Santagata and a pair of scores from Cannon in the third quarter before Virginia State turned in their first score of the day with just under three minutes to play in the third. VSU actually outscored Anderson in the fourth and final quarter of action by a 2-1 margin but it would be too little too late as Anderson wrapped up the 17-3 win.
The Trojans get less than 24 hours of rest before their turn around and take on No. 16 Wingate in a conference matchup tomorrow, April 6 at 3:00 p.m.
