CONWAY, S.C. – In a return home after a four-game road trip, the Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse team (11-5, 4-1 ASUN) defeated Stetson (4-11, 1-5 ASUN) today in a 24-17 win over the Hatters at Brooks Stadium.
With the win today, Coastal maintains second place in the ASUN standings, one game back of first-place Jacksonville with one game remaining until the start of the ASUN Conference Championship on May 2.
Senior Avery McIlwaine opened the scoring with a goal in the first minute of the game, giving the Chants an early 1-0 advantage. That goal from McIlwaine gave her the 100th of her career in three years with CCU and one with Furman.
Senior Monica Manley doubled the home advantage with a goal just 31 seconds later coming off an assist from Brigid Cardillo. The opening quarter would go on to produce 13 goals, with all but one coming from open play, as the Chants led 7-6 after the first 15 minutes. By the end of the first quarter, Manley had secured a hat-trick and McIlwaine added to her milestone with another goal at the 47-second mark.
The second quarter continued the high scoring affair, producing another 10 goals, as CCU would take a 14-9 lead into the halftime break. Leading goalscorer Sydney McClure continued her strong run of play by adding two more to her tally, her 10th multi-goal game this season. McIlwaine scored her third and fourth goals just before the halftime whistle.
Coastal continued to control the game into the second half by outscoring Stetson 6-3 in the third quarter. McIlwaine added her season-high fifth goal of the afternoon at the 12:55-minute mark to put the Chants back up by five. The third quarter would end with this week's ASUN Player of the Week Maddie Bates scoring her second goal of the day, as CCU took a 20-12 lead into the final frame.
The fourth quarter featured a pair of 4-0 scoring runs from both Coastal and Stetson with the Chants leading by as many as 11 with 10 minutes to play. In the end, the 4-0 run from the Hatters wasn't enough, as CCU would go on to pick up their fourth conference win of the season in a 24-17 win at home.
Coastal finished with a season-high 24 goals on 40 total attempts, 30 on target, scoring six goals from free position attempts. McIlwaine's season-high five goals led the Chants on the scoresheet. Five others finished with multi-goal efforts with McClure adding four, Manley with three and Bates, Abi George and Evelyn Kitchin each scoring twice.
Kitchin led CCU in the draw control department with a season-high 13 of the team's 26. Goalkeeper Claire Martell replaced Charlotte Sadler in the second quarter, as she recorded five saves in route to picking up her first win of the season.
Next up for the Chants is a meeting with the Kennesaw State Owls in each team's regular season finale on Saturday, Apr. 27 at 12 P.M. ET at Brooks Stadium.
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
