CONWAY, S.C. – Behind redshirt junior Kayla Downey's game-high five goals, the Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse team led from start to finish in a 15-10 home win over Iona on Sunday at Brooks Stadium.
 
The win propels the Chanticleers to 4-2 on the season, while the loss drops Iona to 6-2 on the year.
 
With the victory, the Chants extended their winning streak to three consecutive games and defeated first-time opponents in each of the last two games in Boston University and Iona.
 
CCU's Downey notched a match-high five goals and added three assists, while Hope Steuerwald scored three goals of her own and forced three turnovers. Seven other Chants in Avery McIlwaine (1 goal, 2 assists), Gabrielle Beckett (1 goal), Sydney McClure (1 goal), Avery Snyder (1 goal, 1 assist), Riley Glackin (1 goal, 1 assist), Brigid Cardillo (1 goal), and Bethany Bruck (1 goal) all had one goal in the win.
 
McIlwaine added four draw controls, while Devin Rybacki won a game-high seven draw controls to help start the Coastal offense that outshot Iona 42-24 for the game.
 
Earning the win in goal for the Chants was reigning ASUN Defensive Player of the Week Claire Martell, as she made four saves on 10 shots over the first 30 minutes of the contest.
 
Fellow goalies Charlotte Sadler (4 saves, 0 goals) and Kennedy Manning (2 saves, 5 goals) combined to play all 30 minutes in the second half in the win.
 
For Iona, six different Gaels scored led, by Kira Varada's three goals, while Micaela Fitzpatrick finished with one goal and three assists in the loss.
 
The loss fell to Iona goalie Sofia Votto, as the starter gave up 11 goals and made just six saves on 22 shots over the first half of play.
 
The home team got the scoring started early, as Downey put the Chants up 1-0 less than 40 seconds into the match with an unassisted goal after a rebounded save from Iona's Votto.
 
Just over four minutes later, Steuerwald (10:17) opened the flood gates for the CCU offense, as she took a pass from McIlwaine to score the first of four goals in just over a four-minute span, as Glackin (8:08), Cardillo (6:41), and Beckett (6:00) all followed with a goal of their own to extend the Chants' lead to 5-0 with six minutes remaining in the first period.
 
After Iona's Varada scored back-to-back goals to trim the CCU lead to 5-2, Coastal's Snyder (00:13) closed out the first period with a goal off an Iona turnover to put the Chants on top 6-2 after one period of play.
 
The second period saw a flurry of goals in the opening minutes of the quarter, as McIlwaine (13:18), with an assist from Glackin, and Downey (12:19), with a helper from McIlwaine, both found the back of the net and pushed the home team's lead to 8-2.
 
Refusing to go away, Iona sandwiched a Bruck unassisted goal (8:38) with a goal from Arianna Burns (10:51) and Fitzpatrick (6:56) to put the score at 9-4 with just under seven minutes to go in the first half.
 
Iona closed the gap to four at 9-5 on an Alexa Skoubas goal (4:44), yet the Chants were not done, as Downey assisted on Steuerwald's second goal of the game (3:33) and then notched another score (00:25) of her own as time was winding down on the first half to give the home team an 11-5 halftime lead.
 
The scoring slowed down in the second half, as Downey accounted for the only goal in the third quarter with an unassisted goal with 5:20 on the clock to add to the Coastal lead at 12-5.
 
Sadler, who entered the game for the Chants after halftime, was big in between the pipes in the third period, making four saves over the 15 minutes of action.
 
With a 12-5 lead heading into the fourth quarter, Steuerwald (13:21) recorded her hat trick off an assist from Downey before Downey (11:33) took a pass from Snyder to pick up her fifth goal of the game less than two minutes later to give the Chants their largest lead of the game at 14-5.
 
Iona registered the next three goals over the next six minutes of the contest to cut the Chanticleers' lead to six at 14-8 with 5:17 left in the match, only to see McClure (2:46) score a woman-up goal with just under three minutes to go to push Coastal back out in front by seven at 15-8.
 
The Gaels added two late goals in the final minutes, but it was too little, too late, as the Chanticleers picked up the 15-10 home win.
 
Coastal will continue its season-opening eight-game homestand with two more home games this week, as the Chanticleers will host Harvard on Tuesday, March 14, and Marist on Friday, March 17. The opening draw for both matches is scheduled for noon 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 www.GoCCUsports.com.