SAVANNAH, Ga.— The Montreat women's lacrosse team faced its second consecutive tough Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) opponent Saturday afternoon as the squad traveled to take on the No. 7-ranked SCAD-Savannah Bees. Though the visitors battled and improved on last season's result, the Cavaliers dropped to 4-4 (0-2 AAC) for the 2022 season with a 26-6 defeat.
SCAD (3-1, 2-0 AAC) registered the first two tallies of the contest before
Kate Gauntlett recorded her 38
th goal of the year 2:58 into the game to cut the Cavs' deficit in half. Gauntlett then scored another time for Montreat with 1:51 remaining in the first quarter, breaking up five Bees goals as the home team led 7-2 through 15 minutes.
The Bees then shut down the Cavaliers' offense in the second frame. Montreat, who averages 18 goals per game this year, was kept off the board in the second quarter as SCAD utilized a 6-0 scoring edge to go up 13-2 at the half.
The home team built its advantage out to 16-2 before
Izzy Knight collected her 15
th goal of the season, and
Aleea Bone added her 13
th tally of the year to make it 17-4 with 3:30 left in the third.
From that point on, SCAD controlled the scoring, going on a 9-0 stretch that spanned the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth frame to lead 26-4. Gauntlett completed her hat trick with 2:35 left, and Bone recorded her second goal of the matchup with just under a minute remaining, but it wasn't enough to pull the visitors close as the Cavs fell by 20. With 40 goals and 56 points through seven games, Gauntlett leads the NAIA in scoring.
The Bees outshot the Cavaliers 55-24 on the afternoon; however, Montreat kept several other statistical categories close, holding slight deficits in both ground balls (9-4) and draw controls (20-15). The Cavs also cleared 11 of their 15 opportunities, while SCAD went a perfect 16-16 on clears.
In net,
Carlie Henning led the charge for the visitors, blocking 14 shots from the Bees and allowing 17 goals in 40:25 of gameplay.
Women's lacrosse now travels to Truett McConnell for another conference matchup next Saturday. Game time is currently scheduled for 1:00 p.m.