BREVARD, N.C. – Freshman attacker Autumn Kraemer continued the hot start to her collegiate career, tying the single-game program record for goals scored (nine) as the Brevard College women's lacrosse team (1-2) earned its first victory of 2020 in dominant fashion, defeating the visiting Johnson & Wales University (Denver) Wildcats (0-3), 19-8, on Wednesday evening at Ives-Lemel Family Field.
Kraemer's nine-goal performance was the third time that a BC women's lacrosse player has scored nine goals in a single game. The Stewartstown, Pennsylvania native joins Caitlyn Nemeth (April 1, 2015 vs. Lees-McRae) and Nina Siu (March 7, 2018 vs. Felician) as the only Tornados to reach the nine-goal plateau.
KC Collins bolstered Brevard's offensive attack with a six-goal, three-assist performance for a career-high nine points. Collins' six goals marked the first six career scores for the Marietta, Georgia native's career. The sophomore attacker/goalkeeper started all 16 games last season in goal for the Tornados and has started this year's first three contests in the field. Collins' nine points in Wednesday's contest are tied for the fifth-most single-game points in BC's program history.
Sophomore midfielder Hannah Scharf added a career-best four goals, while senior attacker Kelly Wilkins dished out a career-high five assists in the victory. Wilkins' five-assist outburst is tied for third-most in a single game in program history for BC women's lacrosse.
Defensively, senior Nicole O'Connor posted a career performance with eight ground balls, while Collins added five. Collins and Kraemer hauled in a team-best five draw controls each and Savannah Colliver caused a pair of turnovers. Freshman Carlie Henning notched her first win as a starting collegiate goalkeeper, stopping nine Wildcat shots in the victory.
JWU-Denver's Ashley Guerrero led her side with three goals, while Julianna Lozada and Jocheyn Suglio each put in a pair of scores. Four Wildcats caused a pair of turnovers each, while Brigid McCollam saved 12 total shots.
Just over a minute into action, Kraemer got on the score sheet with an unassisted goal at the 28:55 mark to put her side up by a 1-0 margin. The freshman goal-scorer doubled BC's advantage with 24:13 left to play in the first half before the Wildcats scored back-to-back goals to tie the contest up, 2-2.
Kramer scored her third goal of the game down a player at the 12:06 mark to put the Tornados up for good in the game. Just 10 seconds later, Scharf won a draw control and extended BC's advantage, 4-2, just 10 seconds later at the 11:56 mark. JWU-Denver cut into BC's lead with a goal 33 seconds later, but a trio of goals from Collins, Kraemer, and Scharf gave Brevard a 7-3 halftime advantage.
Scharf opened up the second half of action by scoring a power-play goal to push BC's lead to five goals before the Wildcats were able to answer back. Kraemer scored back-to-back goals to kick start a four-goal run by the Tornados, pushing BC's lead to eight goals, 12-4. Collins went on to score four of Brevard's next seven goals, with Kraemer adding three scores to tie the program's record of nine goals. BC cruised to the comfortable final score of 19-8, giving the Tornados their first win of the new season.
The Tornados were able to outshoot the Wildcats by a 37-24 margin and outperformed their opposition on free-position shots, converting 5-of-13 compared to JWU-Denver's 2-of-7 mark. BC converted 26-of-32 clear attempts compared to the Wildcats' 16-of-23 mark. Brevard scooped 36 ground balls to JWU-Denver's 24 and won 14 draw controls to the Wildcats' 13.
The Tornados return to action when they open up USA South Conference play on Saturday, March 7 in Fayetteville, North Carolina at Methodist University (1-2), with first draw set for 12 p.m. BC closes out its first conference weekend on Sunday, March 8 in Raleigh, North Carolina vs. Meredith College (0-3) at 11 a.m.
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-BC-