BOILING SPRINGS – Freshman Maddie Stephens scored a career-high four goals, but Gardner-Webb fell to Longwood, 21-7, in Big South Conference women's lacrosse action at Ernest W. Spangler Stadium.
The afternoon started with a special ceremony to honor lone senior Emma Rose (Weston, Fla. / South Plantation HS). Rose finished the game with one goal and an assist.
Longwood (7-10, 3-4 Big South) got on the board quickly, with Molly Barkman scoring an unassisted goal just 21 seconds into the game.
Stephens answered with her first goal of the game with 27:06 left in the first half, finding the back of the net on a free position shot to tie the game.
The Lancers then went on a 6-0 run to take control of the game, getting back-to-back goals from Lexi Davis – then two in a row from Stephanie Roberts. Cassie Angeles scored twice off of free position shots to push the Longwood lead to 7-1 with 18:18 to play before halftime – and the Lancers had control of the game from there.
Stephens took an assist from Rose to trim the lead to 7-2 with 17:25 on the clock, but Longwood followed with three straight to go up 10-2. Goals from Rose (11:51) and Ashley Fisch (11:23) quickly pulled Gardner-Webb back within 10-4, but Longwood closed the half with a 5-0 run to go up by double digits.
The two teams traded goals early in the second half, with Barkman scoring to open the half at the 25:51 mark. Lindsey Lippert connected off a pass from Amanda Steinmuller with 24:19 to play – then Longwood scored twice for an 18-5 edge.
Stephens heated up again midway through the second stanza, scoring an unassisted goal with 15:12 to play – then taking a pass from Colleen Conn to cut the lead to 18-7 with 13:23 to play.
Longwood scored three more times for the final margin, getting its last score with 29 seconds left on the clock.
The Lancers had 34 shots in the game and got four goals each from Angeles and Barkman. Roberts added three goals and Davis put home a pair of goals to go with a game-high five assists.
Kaitlin Luccarelli finished with four ground balls to tie for game-high honors in that category. The Lancers also caused 11 turnovers in the game.
Gardner-Webb collected 15 shots on Saturday, with Stephens scoring four goals on just four attempts. Her previous season-best was two goals, done several times.
Steinmuller, who finished tied for the school's single-season goals mark, finished with a pair of assists in the game. Conn also had a pair of assists and two ground balls.
Michelle Hedrick had four ground balls and three caused turnovers on the defensive side. Lindsey Lippert had six draw controls to go with one goal on three shots.
