GREENVILLE, S.C. – Lily Toole had a game high five points to lead the fourth-seeded Furman women's lacrosse team past No. 5 seed Radford, 15-5, on Tuesday evening in the first round of the Big South Women's Lacrosse Championship at Paladin Stadium.
With the win, Furman improves to 10-8 on the season and advances to the semifinals of the Big South Women's Lacrosse Championship. The Paladins will face top-seeded Mercer on Friday at 4 p.m. from Five Star Stadium in Macon, Ga. Radford's season ends at 4-14.
Toole led all players with her five points after totaling four goals and one assist while adding three ground balls and one caused turnover.
Allie Kandel (four goals),
Shae Insinga (three goals, one assist), and
Reynolds Hester (one goal, three assisted) all finished with four points.
Lily Mosser came off the bench and posted a career high four points with two goals and two assists.
Skylar Hilmer, who caused a career best four turnovers, recorded seven draws and
Cate Noone six.
Rachel Sbei compiled a career best four ground balls. Goalie
Sailor Henderson picked up the win on five saves and one ground ball.
Molly O'Brien scored a team high two goals for the Highlanders and Maddy Driscoll dished out three assists. In goal, Ava LaManna provided 14 saves and three ground balls.
Furman led wire-to-wire for the second consecutive game after opening on a 4-1 run, taking a three-point lead at the 3:16 mark of the first quarter on Toole's first goal. Radford answered with back-to-back goals before the Paladins closed out the first half on a 4-0 run. Insinga netted a pair of goals during the run and Kandel extended Furman's lead to 8-3 at the 2:04 mark.
The Paladins limited the Highlanders to just two goals in the second half and kept Radford off the scoreboard over the final 8:27. Furman reeled off six consecutive goals over a stretch of 10:33 and held a 14-4 advantage less than four minutes into the fourth quarter following Toole's last goal of the contest. Four different Paladins scored throughout the run with Toole scoring twice while Kandel, Mosser, and
Emily Muir added one each.
Kandel closed out the contest with 3:33 remaining in regulation, scoring for the fourth time to put the final score at 15-5.
Furman held a 45-21 advantage in shots, 20-14 in ground balls, 13-8 in caused turnovers, and 17-5 in draws. The Paladins also forced Radford into 25 turnovers, marking the second time this season an opponent has committed 20 or more in a game. Furman's 45 shots are tied for third-most in a game in program history.
Fans can follow Friday's action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats. The game is being streamed on ESPN+. Updates will be posted on the Furman women's lacrosse Twitter page (@FUWlax).
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