PDF Box Score
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Cat Leighty played a role in half of the team's goals, while
Sam Wettengel starred on both sides of the field as the Christopher Newport women's lacrosse team rolled past Messiah, 16-6, during a wet Thursday afternoon at Captains Turf Field.
Battling through a steady rain throughout most of the contest, CNU shrugged off the elements and took care of business. Leighty paced the offense with eight points, including four goals.
Julia Golden also found the back of the cage four times, while
Alexis Kasuda added her first collegiate hat-trick.
Along with the offensive standouts, Wettengel was all over the field for the Captains. The junior registered four points and also anchored a stout defensive unit. She finished the contest with a game-high five caused turnovers, which equaled the eighth-highest single-game total in program history.
Riley Rafterry-Lee also caused four turnovers, while
Kendall Krause and
Victoria Betterly forced three apiece.
With the victory, Christopher Newport improves to 5-5 on the season. The setback drops Messiah to 1-7 overall.
Finding their rhythm early on both sides of the ball, the Captains excelled from the start. On the defensive side,
Kaitlyn Ready made two quick saves, including a nice grab on a low liner. Rafterry-Lee also bullied the Messiah attack and forced a pair of turnovers, including a solid play where she drove back a Falcon and dislodged the ball before Krause pounced on the roller.
On the other side, CNU was equally effective as Leighty and Golden put on a show. Incredibly, the two standouts combined to score all seven of the squad's first-half goals. Leighty converted a free-position attempt, hammered a strike with a Falcon in her face, and cut back around a defender before sniping a rocket for her third tally. Meanwhile, Golden added her own eight-meter missile, deposited a dart from close range, and capitalized on a pair of feeds from Leighty to help snatch a 7-4 edge.
The defense also never lost its momentum. Over the latter part of the first half, Ready came through with a huge save during a man-down situation, Krause and Rafterry-Lee continued to bottle up the MC attack on the back line, and
Sarah Culver made a heads-up play to track down a midfielder and cut off a clear attempt during the final minute.
Holding a modest lead entering the break, the Captains came out on fire in the second half. In the first two minutes, Wettengel converted on a pass from
Zoe Dyer, while Leighty used a beautiful stutter step to shake a defender on the near side of the crease before pounding away on the interior. Later, after Wettengel forced three turnovers during a suffocating eight-minute stretch, Kasuda checked into the game and picked apart the Messiah defense.
Making her fifth collegiate appearance, Kasuda snapped off her first career strike with a dagger from the doorstep. Looking for more, she came back four minutes later with another laser off a feed from Leighty before capping off her rapid-fire hat-trick with another strike with 12 minutes remaining.
At the same time Kasuda was making the most of her appearance,
Gracie Sanders also found the back of the net after showing incredible concentration. The sophomore grabbed a pass from Wettengel while carving a path towards the crease. Although the ball popped out of her stick for a brief second, she quickly regained possession and hammered home her first goal of the contest, which helped the squad grab a 13-4 advantage and forced Messiah to burn a timeout.
Following the stoppage, the visitors managed to score their first goal of the second half, but the Captains shrugged off the momentary setback. Betterly jump-started Christopher Newport's final push with less than 10 minutes remaining after scoring off an assist from Leighty. Later, Culver put the finishing touches on the contest as the senior set-up a strike by Wettengel before showcasing her own moves with a spinning dodge at the top of the zone on the way to the game's final nail.
Overall, Christopher Newport out-shot Messiah, 25-22, and held an identical 25-22 edge in ground balls. Meanwhile, the two squads split the game's 24 draws with Betterly coming through with a career-high seven for the Captains. She also established a new personal-best with five ground balls, while Ready picked up two rollers to go along with her 14 saves.
CNU will return to action on Wednesday when the squad hosts Lynchburg at 5 p.m.
---CNU---
