Greenville, S.C. – Meagan Beal scored a career-high three goals, while Kyra LaMotte and Sydney McClure both had two assists, to lead the Furman women's lacrosse team to a 10-8 victory in its home opener over the Liberty Flames Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium.

Furman improves to 1-2 on the season while Liberty drops to 1-3 overall.

Beal came off the bench to score a game-high three goals, while McClure registered a career-best in assists and LaMotte matched her career-high for assists in a game. LaMotte also scored two goals along with Lauren Farber and Hannah Dintino. Dintino added one assist along with Avery McIlwaine, who scored one goal. LaMotte and Avery Whitehead both picked up three ground balls, and McIlwaine won four draws.

In goal, Meghan Deehan recorded seven saves and one ground ball to pick up her first win of the season.

Grace Fletcher, Mia Toscano and Mackenzie Lehman all scored a team-high two goals for the Flames. Brooke Bryan and Leah Ruby both collected one assist. Toscano also led the team with three draws.

Jennifer Soriero finished with 11 saves and a team-high nine ground balls in goal.

Liberty jumped out to an early 2-0 lead during the game's opening five minutes off goals from Toscano and Lehman. The Paladins then proceeded to hold the Flames scoreless over nearly a 19-minute stretch while scoring seven consecutive goals. LaMotte and Farber scored two goals apiece during Furman's 7-0 run while Beal, McIlwaine and Dintino each tallied one. Dintino's goal with 15:23 remaining put the Paladins in front 7-2.

The teams traded the final two goals of the half, covering a stretch of almost seven minutes, beginning with Fletcher's goal at the 6:48 mark to put the score at 7-3. Beal's second goal of the game with 5:09 left sent Furman into halftime leading 8-3.

Liberty would outscore the Paladins 5-2 in the second half that began less than a minute into the period when Ruby's goal with 29:03 to go made the score 8-4. Beal completed the hat trick almost seven minutes later, giving Furman a 9-4 advantage with 22:40 remaining. The Flames answered with a 4-0 run over the next 20:34 and cut their deficit down to 9-8 at the 2:50 mark following Lehman's goal.

Dintino sealed the victory for the Paladins 46 seconds later scoring her second goal of the contest off McIlwaine's first career assist.

Both teams concluded the game with 26 shot attempts while Furman held a 12-8 advantage in draws. The Paladins also compiled 16 ground balls and forced Liberty into 19 turnovers.

Furman remains at home next Thursday, March 4, to host Gardner-Webb at 6 p.m.