The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team kicked off the 2017 season by traveling to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Tuesday for the first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) game of the year.  After a slow start, the Bulldogs struggled to bounce back en route to a 3-13 loss to the Athenas.

Despite seven saves by junior goalkeeper Quinn Egan (Greenwood Village, CO) in the first half alone, Redlands toiled to shut down CMS' offense, which fired off five goals through the first 20 minutes of action.

Sophomore midfielder Hanna Morford (West Linn, OR) ended the Bulldogs' scoring drought with an unassisted goal at the 2:35-mark in the first period, but the Athenas answered right back with another score to send the Maroon and Gray into halftime with a 1-6 deficit.

An early scoring spurt by CMS put Redlands in a substantial hole through the 17-minute mark of the second half at 1-11. 

With 13:26 left in the game, Morford found an open freshman midfielder Sadie Pickering (Tacoma WA), who blasted off her first career-goal as a Bulldog.

Redlands mustered one more netter, with this one also coming off the stick of Morford, as freshman midfielder Chelsea Sahami (Millbrae, CA) dished out the assist.

Egan finished the night with a career-high 15 saves.  Pickering and Morford accounted for five of the team's eight draw controls.

The Bulldogs (0-1, 0-1 SCIAC) look forward to hosting Whittier College on Friday, February 24, at 7 p.m. on Farquhar Field.