Charleston, W. Va – On Thursday, the Golden Eagles hosted the Alderson Broaddus Battlers for their first Mountain East Conference women's lacrosse matchup of the year. With Charleston finding their first win on the previous Sunday against Quincy University, the Golden Eagles had all the momentum coming into conference play. 
 
The Basics
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 18, ABU 5
Records: UC (2-6, 1-0 MEC), ABU (0-3, 0-1 MEC) 
 
How it Happened
The two teams would play the game with nine field players and a goalie due to Alderson Broaddus' limited roster, which gave Charleston an immediate advantage as they were able to use their depth throughout the entire matchup and substitute players as they pleased. Credit goes to the Battlers for playing all 60 minutes with the players they had in their first conference game of the year, but the Golden Eagles would dominate from start to finish. 
 
It would be Charleston finding the first two goals of the game within the first two minutes of the first quarter. After coming off an ankle injury, the dual-sport athlete Gianni Blundell would open up scoring at the 14:20 mark for her third of the year, followed by Allyssa Greaver for the second just a minute later for the two-score advantage. Terri Nashe displayed blazing speed on the field for the Battlers and drew a foul early on the in game to find the first goal for the visitors with a free position shot to cut the lead in half. Destiny Jackson would find her first goal of the match assisted by Sydney Verlinghieri to wipe out the Alderson Broaddus goal and get back to a two-score lead. Following the score, Greaver would extend the lead further with her second goal of the game giving them a 4-1 advantage. The Battlers would rally back to within one after goals from Nashe and Lilly Parsons with 4:17 remaining in the third quarter. Ally Wilson would find Madison Partridge on the offensive attack for Partridge's fifth goal of the year to give Charleston a 5-3 lead. Ally Wilson's free position shot with a minute remaining would give Charleston the most amount of goals scored in a quarter this season as well as the 6-3 lead heading into the second period of play. 
 
The second quarter would be controlled by the Golden Eagles as they limited the Battlers to just one free position goal. On the other end, they would put the Alderson Broaddus goalie Taylor Young under pressure as they would put up 14 shots with 11 of them on net and finding five goals. Tess Yuhas would begin the scoring at the 13:50 mark with her first goal of the match off of the assist from Kaiya Roberson for the 7-3 lead. After Nashe's free position goal, Madison Partridge would extinguish any momentum the Battlers found with another score on the assist from Darby Stolz. Tess Yuhas played a critical role on offense for the Golden Eagles as she found four assists on the day as her first would set up Destiny Jackson at the 8:02 mark for the ninth goal of the match. Yuhas would assist the next two consecutive goals to end the half as she found Sydney Verlinghieri twice for back-to-back goals from the Woodlyn, PA native to end the half with an 11-4 lead over Alderson Broaddus. 
 
Charleston would limit the Battlers once again to just two shots with no goals allowed in the third quarter. Yuhas would pick up right where she left off and find Ally Wilson for the 12^th goal of the match just 30 seconds into the quarter. Jackson would complete her hattrick at the 13-minute mark to give Charleston the 13-4 lead on the assist from Ally Wilson. Madison Sobolewski would have a chance to work on her shooting skills as her goal with 6:37 remaining would give Charleston a 14-4 lead and a running clock. Allyssa Greaver would find Sobolewski for her second of the game at the 3:45 mark for the 15-4 lead. Madison Partridge would round out the scoring for the third quarter with a goal with time ticking down to give Charleston a crushing 16-4 lead going into the fourth quarter. 
 
With a running clock, the scoring would slow down for both sides. Partridge would find her fourth and final goal of the game just a minute into the fourth quarter on a great pass from Colleen Ryan for the 17-4 lead. Felicia Young would end the drought for the Battlers with a goal towards the end of the quarter to give Alderson Broaddus their fifth goal of the evening. With time winding down, Hannah Calvert would find her first goal of the year with 1:48 to go to put Charleston up 13 goals, making it the final goal of the evening to give Charleston the 18-5 victory over the Battlers. 
 
Charleston finished the day with a season-best 16-17 on clear attempts and 41 total shots with 33 of those shots on target. Taylor Young, the Battler goalie, would finish with 15 saves off of those attempts. Another critical statistic that allowed for Charleston's dominance was they had 18 draw controls, twice as many as Alderson Broaddus, which allowed for them to keep the ball on the attacking third. 
 
 
Up Next
Charleston will continue their conference schedule on the road as they travel to Elkins, WV to face the Senators of Davis & Elkins College this Sunday on April 2^nd at 2:00 PM. The Senators seek their first win of the year with a record of 0-8.