BREVARD, N.C. – The Brevard women's lacrosse team wrapped up its five-game home stand with a 16-11 victory over visiting LaGrange on Saturday afternoon at Ives-Lemel Field. The win over the Panthers, coupled with a 20-4 downing of N.C. Wesleyan, marks the first time since April 2016 that the Tornados have won back-to-back contests.
The duo of Nina Siu and Victoria Hayes played an instrumental role in the Tornados moving to 4-6 on the season as they scored five goals each. Siu also added two assists to finish with seven points.
Brevard also received two goals each from Kelly Kearnan and Micaiah Vacchiano. Kearnan was also active on defense with a game-high eight ground balls, while teammate Shelby Arsenault picked up her fourth win of the season by making 12 saves.
LaGrange (3-7) put the first goal of the game on the board at the 28:02 mark when Davida White converted a free position shot. Jezika Gunter quickly knotted the contest at one, following a pass from Siu, but the Panthers regained the one-goal edge on a strike by Madeline LaCavera.
Vacchiano retaliated with her first goal of the day at the 23:17 mark, knotting the game at 2-2, as Brevard scored six unanswered goals over the next 11:50 of the contest. Siu got into the act with an unassisted strike for the third Tornado goal and Hayes followed to make for a 4-2 contest.
Three straight strikes by Siu extended the Brevard lead to 7-2, but Eva Tallent ended the drought for the Panthers at the 10:31 mark. Rachel Thomas followed with the fourth LaGrange goal of the half, but Hayes came through with a short-handed goal at the 2:01 mark to make for a 8-4 Tornado lead at the intermission.
In similar fashion to the first half, LaGrange opened the second half with a goal from White to trim the deficit to three. Hayes notched her third goal of the game and Kelly Wilkins followed with a score to double the Brevard lead to 10-5.
Tallent followed with a strike for the Panthers, but Vacchiano quickly answered with her second score of the day to make for a 13-7 contest at the 16:34 mark. Consecutive goals by Tallent and White brought LaGrange within four, but Siu found the back of the net for her fifth goal of the game as Brevard forged ahead 14-9.
Thomas and White scored two goals down the stretch for the Panthers, but it was goals by Hayes and Kearnan that kept Brevard in front by five.
Brevard will head to Meredith (March 24) and Ferrum (March 30) for its next two contests.
