Elon Women’s Lacrosse Phoenix Takes Down Owls in Home Finale

ELON, N.C. – The Elon women’s lacrosse team capped the home portion of its schedule with an 18-7 win over Kennesaw State today, April 13, in Rhodes Stadium to finish a perfect 5-0 at home in its inaugural season. The Phoenix is now 6-7 on the season and remains undefeated in Atlantic Sun play with a 2-0 record, while the Owls fall to 1-10 and 1-3 in the A-Sun.

Elon outshot KSU, 45-18, and finished nearly perfect in clear attempts with an 18-of-19 mark. The maroon and gold picked up 24 ground balls en route to tying the team-high for goals scored in a game.

Eight Elon players recorded points as Molly Garrigan led the way with a career-high six goals. Anna Vitton and Sydney Hesselbein both posted three goals, while Sloane Kessler finished with two goals and three assists. Emily Bishop, Olivia Fernandez, Kelli Stack and Jane Ruede all recorded one score in the game.

Goalie Rachel Ramirez posted seven saves off 14 shots on goal by the Owls to claim a 53.1 save percentage, while also picking up three ground balls. Erin Murnane led the team with four ground balls, while Elle Hvozdovic won seven times at the draw for the Phoenix.

Megan Weissman won the first two draws for Elon as the offense turned both opportunities into scores by Kessler and Hesselbein in the first 90 seconds for a 2-0 advantage. KSU answered at the 25:22 mark before the Phoenix rattled off five straight goals, with two by each Hesselbein and Vitton, to lead by six, 7-1, with under five minutes remaining in the opening half. The Owls closed out the frame with a goal by Sydney Farwick to make it a 7-2 score at the break.

After trading goals back-and-forth three times to start the second half, the maroon and gold scored back-to-back with goals by Vitton and Garrigan to make it a 12-5 lead with 11:35 left to play. The Owls’ Olivia Hokanson posted a goal prior to a streak of five straight for the Phoenix, including three goals by Garrigan, to take an 11-goal advantage, 17-6, with 5:01 remaining in the game. KSU scored its final goal with two and a half minutes left before Ruede posted the first goal of her career with seven ticks remaining to help Elon to the 18-7 final.

The Owls finished 12-of-18 in clear attempts, grabbed 18 ground balls and took the advantage at the draw, 15-12. Allison Senft took the loss after allowing five goals after only 11:54 between the pipes. Peyton Murdock finished out the game for KSU with 11 saves and allowed 13 goals.

Elon will continue A-Sun play next week when it travels to Howard to take on the Bison in a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, April 19, in Washington, D.C.