Greenville, N.C. – The Furman women's lacrosse team opened its 2021 season on Friday afternoon dropping a 16-14 road decision to the East Carolina Pirates from Johnson Stadium.

Furman falls to 0-1 on the season while East Carolina improves to 1-0 overall.

Kyra LaMotte led the Paladins offensively after matching her career-highs of four goals and five points, and went 2-for-3 in free position attempts. Leah Nonnenmann, Meagan Beal, Hannah Demis and Lauren Farber all scored two goals apiece. Demis dished out a team-high two assists while LaMotte, Farber and Sydney Catts each had one. Beal set a new career-high of four ground balls and Catts won five draws.

Megan Pallozzi and Mackell Schultes scored five and four goals, respectively, to lead the Pirate offense. Nicole Legar contributed a match-high four assists and eight draws. Frances Kimel and Ashley Vernon picked up three ground balls.

In goal, Meghan Deehan recorded six saves and Vernon tallied 10 for ECU.

Furman opened the game scoring two of the first three goals from Nonnenmann and LaMotte to hold a 2-1 lead at the 23:47 mark. The Paladins were then held without a goal for 18 minutes as East Carolina went on an 8-0 run to build a 9-2 lead with 5:37 remaining. Furman came back by registering four of the next five goals from Catts, LaMotte, Demis and Avery McIlwaine to trail 10-6 with 32 seconds left. The Pirates picked up a goal with six seconds to go and led 11-6 at halftime.

Farber got the Paladins to within four, 11-7, early in the second half on her free position goal only to see East Carolina score the following three to extend its lead out to 14-7 with 18:59 remaining. Furman would then outscore the Pirates 7-1 over the next 16 minutes with four of its goals coming on free position attempts. Farber, LaMotte, Beal, Nonnenmann and Demis all scored during the Paladins' run. A string of four consecutive goals cut Furman's deficit down to 15-14 at the 2:46 mark. Schultes sealed the victory for the Pirates after her goal at the 2:10 mark, making the score 16-14.

The Paladins concluded the game holding a 30-25 advantage in shots and 21-15 in ground balls. Furman also went 7-for-14 in free position attempts and won 14 draws.

The Paladins head to Davidson, N.C. on Sunday afternoon to face Davidson at 3 p.m.