Greenville, S.C. – Hannah Demis broke the Furman women's lacrosse career assists record on Saturday, leading the Paladins to a 13-10 victory over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in their SoCon opener from Paladin Stadium.
Furman, who has won three straight games and six of its last seven, improve to 6-3 on the season and 1-0 in league play. Coastal Carolina drops to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
Demis, a senior from Roswell, Ga., dished out two assists in the contest and now has 101 for her career, surpassing the previous record of 100 held by
Abby Shields (2016-19). Demis and Shields are now the only two Paladins in program history to have 100 or more assists for their career.
Meagan Beal compiled a career-high six points and five goals, and had one assist, to lead Furman offensively on Saturday.
Kyra LaMotte and
Hannah Dintino both collected four points. LaMotte scored four goals, and Dintino provided two goals and two assists. Demis finished with three points on a goal and two assists.
Sydney Catts scored once and
Sophie Shaw dished out her first collegiate assist.
Regan Lingo set a new career-high with eight ground balls and
Avery Whitehead won a season-best six draws. Lingo, Beal,
Rachel Sindler and
Avery McIlwaine all caused two turnovers.
In goal,
Meghan Deehan picked up the win recording five saves.
Lingo's eight ground balls tied the Paladin single-game school record that is also held by
Courtney Baker, who set the initial mark on March 29, 2019 at Stetson.
Megan Bozzi came off the bench to compile a team-leading four points on three goals and one assist for the Chanticleers. Lauren Cremen also scored a hat trick. Anya McSorley won five draws, and Sarah Trupp provided four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Claire Martell made six saves in goal.
Beal and LaMotte quickly put Furman ahead 2-0 in the game's first five minutes before Coastal Carolina responded with two goals in less than a minute to tie the score, 2-2. The Paladins would hold the Chanticleers scoreless for nearly 10 minutes as LaMotte and Dintino gave them a 4-2 lead with 17:37 remaining. After Coastal Carolina evened the game again at 4-4 with 13:32 to go, Furman ended the half on a 3-0 run. Holding the Chanticleers scoreless for the final 13:31, the Paladins received goals from Beal, Demis and LaMotte to hold a 7-4 advantage. LaMotte's third goal of the game with 5:08 remaining sent Furman into halftime leading by three.
Coastal Carolina came out in the second half and scored twice within a five-minute stretch to trail 7-6 at the 24:51 mark. Following a Paladin timeout, Dintino and Beal teamed up for back-to-back goals to extend their lead out to 9-6 with 19:59 left.
Furman broke the game open over the following 13:18 as it scored four of the next six goals to take a 13-8 lead with 6:40 to go. Beal scored twice during the run, while Catts and LaMotte each collected one. LaMotte's final goal of the game at the 6:40 mark extended the Paladin lead to five.
The Chanticleers picked up the final two goals of the contest from Avery Snyder and Kayla Downey to put the final score at 13-10.
Furman held a 27-19 advantage in shots and 18-14 in ground balls. The Paladin defense also forced Coastal Carolina into 20 turnovers.
Furman returns to the road next weekend, April 9-11, for a pair of games at Kennesaw State and Mercer.
