CONWAY – Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse senior Haley Alexander tallied six goals in the 17-5 non-conference win over the Mercer Bears, Friday afternoon inside the friendly confines of Brooks Stadium.
 
The win improved the Chanticleers overall record to 9-4 while the Bears fall to 6-8 overall with the loss.
 
Mercer's Kendall Garrett (two goals and two assists) picked up the first goal of the game after weaving through the defense with 27:46 left in the opening stanza to take a 1-0 lead for two minutes and 50 seconds.
 
Alexander scored her 200th career point on an assist in which she found freshman Lauren Cremen (one goal and one assist) in front of the visiting team's goal to even the match at 1-1 with 24:56. Alexander scored three of the next four goals to give Coastal a 5-1 lead, highlighted by junior Hannah Krin hitting a streaking Alexander for a three on two fast break.
 
The Bears' Garrett played a part in the next two goals, first by hitting Catie Snee after finding her way through the CCU defense for a second time before following up with her second unassisted goal of the game to pull Mercer to within 5-3.
 
With 8:09 remaining until halftime, junior Lyla Robinson, with help from sophomore Bailey O'Brien (two goals and three assists), started a four-goal run for the Chanticleer offense. Freshman Carlie Doughty (fifth goal of season) capped off the run with the first goal of the second period with four minutes expiring from the play clock to give the home team a 9-3 advantage.
 
Katie Ryan picked up the visitors first tally in the second half off an assist from Garrett to pull to within five at 9-4.
 
Coastal senior Madeline Bromley scored the first of her two goals on the day to start a seven-goal run, highlighted by two goals by Alexander, a second by Bromley, an O'Brien goal, Samantha Courtemanche's hat-trick goal, and Megan Bozzi with her second goal of the season for a 16-4 lead forcing a running clock.
 
The Bears' Kelly Hagerty tried to spark the visitor's offense with her lone goal of the game to pull MU to 16-5 with 2:56 remaining to play.
 
O'Brien found the back of the net for the final tally of the game on a free-position shot to put the final score of 17-5.
 
Defensively, senior goalie Harley Barrett picked up the win making nine saves before giving way to junior Regan McComb, who picked up two saves of her own. Emily D'Orsaneo, a junior defender, scooped up three ground balls for a defense that caused six turnovers in the double-digit win.
 
The Chanticleers will return to action in their final regular season home game, as they will host ASUN foe Kennesaw State on Sunday, April 14. Coastal will honor the six seniors on the squad before the 1:00 p.m. opening draw.
 
For complete coverage of CCU women's lacrosse, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWLax (twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.