The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team kicked off its Spring Break trip with a resounding 21-6 win over Piedmont College (GA) in Sewanee, Tennessee, on Sunday morning. With a total team effort that included contributions from 26 players, the Bulldogs built an early lead in the first and held the Lions scoreless in the second to secure the non-conference win.
The Maroon and Gray owned a five-goal advantage less than eight minutes into the game with junior midfielder Sadie Pickering (Tacoma, WA) and senior midfielder Hanna Morford (West Linn, OR) each scoring twice and senior attacker Kelsey Ruhl (Seattle, WA) dishing out a pair of assists.
Although Piedmont pulled one back, Redlands looked to Pickering and Morford to fire off three more goals for an 8-1 lead with 17:28 left in the opening stanza.
Over the next 10 minutes, the teams scored twice apiece to give the Bulldogs a 10-3 lead.
After Piedmont cut its deficit to five, Redlands benefitted from first-year midfielder Erika Lopez's (Los Angeles, CA) second goal of the game, which happened to be the second of her young Bulldog career as well.
By the time the teams entered the halftime break, the Bulldogs sat in front by a score of 11-6.
During the second half, the Maroon and Gray elevated its defensive prowess to completely shut out the Lions for 30 minutes. In fact, Piedmont recorded just one shot in that span. Redlands also forced the opponents into nine broken clears, which put the Bulldogs right back on offense en route to a 10-goal showing in the second half.
Overall, Morford tallied seven goals, one assist, and six draw controls, while Pickering added five goals. First-year midfielder Sydney Louie (Lafayette, CA) found the back of the net for the first time in a Maroon and Gray uniform, as first-year attacker Joren Fettig (Bend, OR) provided her inaugural assist.
Sophomore attacker Paige Erlanger (Las Vegas, NV) recorded two caused turnovers, three ground balls, a goal, and an assist, while senior attacker Adi Fellows (Albuquerque, NM) picked up five ground balls.
Redlands (1-3) takes on Sewanee (TN) on Tuesday, March 5, at 1 p.m. CT.