CONWAY, S.C. – Megan Bozzi, Avery Snyder, and Lauren Cremen all recorded hat-tricks to lead the Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse team to a 22-10 home win over William & Mary on Wednesday afternoon in Conway, S.C., to snap a three-game skid. With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 3-4 on the season, while the Tribe dropped to 2-5 with the loss.
First year Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse coach Rachel Shuck Whitten picked up her first win on the Surf Turf inside Brooks Stadium.
The Chants saw Bozzi tally six points on four goals and two assists, while Kayla Downey (2 goals, 3 assists) finished with five points. Avery McIlwaine (2 goals, 2 assists) and Cremen (3 goals, 1 assist) chipped in with four points each to help lead the Coastal offensive attack. The Tribe saw four players record goals with Sam Van Gieson, Belle Martire, and Grace Ahonen recording hat-tricks of their own, and Serena Jacobs notching one goal.
Defensively, Claire Martell stopped 12 shots for Coastal, while Claudia Kelly and Avery Whitehead caused two of the 10 turnovers. William & Mary played two goalkeepers in the contest with each recording two saves.
Coastal jumped on the scoreboard early as Snyder raced through the Tribe's defense to tally the game's first goal just 49 seconds into the game. The 1-0 Chanticleers' advantage held up for almost six minutes before W&M answered with a pair of goals as Van Gieson and Martire. CCU's Snyder evened the score up at 2-2 with 6:52 remaining in the opening quarter to spark a 7-0 run for the Chanticleers, who ran out to an 8-2 lead. The Tribe's Ahonen stopped the CCU run to cut the home team's lead to 8-3 before Bozzi and Cremem closed out the first-quarter scoring with a pair of tallies for the 10-3 Chanticleer lead.
The second period belonged to the visitors from the College of William & Mary as the Tribe outscored the Chanticleers 6-2 in the second quarter. Coastal opened the second period scoring as Rybacki tallied her second goal of the match before W&M's Martire scored her second of the afternoon. CCU's McIlwaine closed out the first half scoring for the Chanticleers, only to see the Tribe finish off the second period with a 5-0 run to cut Coastal's lead to 12-9.
In the second half, the Chanticleers were dominant as the home team outscored William & Mary 10-1 with Bozzi and Cremen capping their hat-tricks in the third and fourth quarters.
The Chants outplayed W&M in every statistical category with the exception of draw controls (20-16), turnovers (19-14), and fouls (28-23). CCU outshot their opponents 34-27 and held a 26-22 advantage in shots on goal. The Chants scooped up 17 ground balls with the Tribe grabbing just 13, while the home team stopped 12 shots to just four for William & Mary.
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 www.GoCCUsports.com.
