CONWAY, S.C. – Freshman
Monica Manley led the Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse team to a 12-7 win over the Davidson Wildcats of the Atlantic-10 Conference on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Conway, S.C.
The win improved the Chanticleers to a 5-0 start, the best in program history, and 1-0 in the Southern Conference while the Wildcats fall to 4-2 on the young 2021 season. The victory was the first-ever for CCU in three tries.
Sophomore
Claire Martell tied a career-high of 11 saves while facing 26 shots and allowing just seven goals on the day. The Verbank, N.Y. native, anchored a defense that caused 17 of the 18 Wildcat turnovers and picked up three ground balls. Martell was aided on the defensive end by the tandem of
Emily D'Orsaneo and
Sarah Trupp who each caused three turnovers while D'Orsaneo scooped up three ground balls and Trupp added two of her own.
Manley, playing at the midfield, won three draw controls and even assisted on the Chants' first goal of the match. After falling behind 2-0 off goals by Sam Rippley in the opening two minutes of the contest, Manley found
Lauren Cremen with 23:03 on the game clock to cut the Wildcats' lead in half at 2-1.
The Chanticleers' season leading point scorer,
Samantha Courtemanche now with 31 points (18 goals, 13 assists) found the back of the net to even the contest up at 2-2 with 19:52 remaining in the first half. Manley, with the first of her four goals, gave the Chants a lead they would not relinquish at 3-2 off the feed from
Abbey Buchanan with 19:04 remaining until the intermission. Junior attacker,
Megan Bozzi (one goal, one assist) pushed the lead to 4-2 on a free position shot with 15:22 on the game clock before Rippley hit the hat trick with her third goal of the day, all unassisted, to make it 4-3 for CCU.
Coastal would score five-straight goals to take a 9-3 lead at the half as Bozzi teamed up with Manley (four goals, one assist) for a goal which was quickly followed up by Courtemanche hitting a fast-break goal on a Wildcat turnover as Trupp raced through the midfield and hit her teammate for the break-away goal.
Kayla Downey found the net twice and
Abi George closed out the opening half scoring off the a dish from Courtemanche.
Davidson answered with two goals to open the second-half action as Julianne Carey made it 9-5 with 20:42 remaining in regulation.
The Chanticleers would answer as Manley sandwiched a Buchanan goal to finish the scoring for the home team. Davidson hit back-to-back goals with 22 seconds expiring off the game clock for the final tally of 12-7.
Coastal Carolina returns to action on Saturday, March 13, as the Chants welcome Elon to Conway, S.C. The opening draw is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
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.
