BRYN MAWR, Pa. – A dynamite debut for freshman Rachel Dunne and a big lift from junior Taylor DeBernardi in her first major action of the season propelled the Ursinus College women's lacrosse team to a 14-1 Centennial Conference rout at Bryn Mawr on Wednesday.
Dunne registered two goals and three assists in her first career game, while DeBernardi added her first four goals of the season as the Bears (7-6, 4-2) picked up another important win in the race for a CC playoff berth. Freshman Haley O'Malley scored three goals in a 50-second span in the first half and sophomore defender Emily Blaszkow contributed the first two markers of her career.
Ursinus outshot the Owls (1-11, 0-6) by a 48-2 count in improving to 24-0 all-time in the series. Katie Alpert racked up 23 saves – 15 of them in the first half – to lead Bryn Mawr.
The Bears won all 16 draws, with sophomore Franny Liberatoscioli (one goal, one assist) securing five and senior Lisa Grous adding four in addition to her third assist of the year.
Liberatoscioli opened the scoring seven minutes into the contest, and the Bears extended their lead to 3-0 after DeBernardi opened her season account with back-to-back strikes. Still, Alpert kept Ursinus from running away until about the 10-minute mark of the first half, when O'Malley went wild. The rookie scored three goals in less than a minute to double the visitors' advantage, and Dunne tallied her first career goal 42 seconds later to make it 7-0 with 8:10 to go in the frame.
Sophomore Kaci McNeave found the back of the net with 1:47 left in the first, and Blaszkow did so for the first time in her career 30 ticks later to give the Bears a 9-0 bulge at the break.
Dunne assisted on consecutive goals by DeBernardi to open up an 11-0 advantage before the Owls broke up the shutout on a marker by Kendall Derber with 11:17 left. Dunne added another goal and a third assist – to junior Jules Krasutsky – before Blaszkow finished a feed from McNeave to cap the scoring with 1:34 remaining.
Blaszkow was also a terror on defense, collecting five ground balls and three caused turnovers in addition to a pair of draws. Sophomore Kaitlyn France stopped one of the two shots she faced in the cage.
McNeave handed out a season-high three assists and stuffed the stat sheet with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Liberatoscioli and Krasutsky finished with a goal and an assist each.
Senior Alyssa Carcia notched two ground balls and a caused turnover in her first career start, while freshman Hannah Wolfram (two shots) and junior Annie Berg (one draw) made their collegiate debuts.
With the win, Ursinus kept its hold fifth place in the CC standings and closed to within one game of a four-way tie for first between Gettysburg, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, and Muhlenberg.
The Bears resume their postseason chase when they host Haverford on Saturday, April 22.