HUNTINGDON, Pa. - Catholic women's lacrosse picked up its fifth win of the season on Thursday afternoon, defeating Juniata 18-7 at Gibbel Stadium. The Cardinals improve to 5-7 on the season and remain unbeaten in Landmark Conference play at 3-0. 

Catholic outscored the Eagles by 10 combined goals in the first and fourth quarters to bookend a Landmark Conference win. The Cardinals raced out to a 7-1 lead and held steady over the middle two periods before outscoring Juniata 5-1 in the final frame to earn an 11-goal road victory. 

Meghan McDonogh's squad scored the first six goals of the contest, starting at the 13:47 mark of the first as Kate Olsen put Catholic on the board with an unassisted goal. Freshman Lindsay Sawyer scored her first of a career-high four goals on a free-position shot with 12:59 remaining in the first to put the Cardinals ahead 2-0. Anna Corona joined the scoring just 65 seconds later, scoring off an assist from Jessie Lee to make it 3-0. 

The Eagles held Catholic scoreless for just under five and a half minutes before Sawyer scored her second of the game off an assist from Olsen to make Catholic's lead four. Olsen's second of the game came at the 4:58 mark just 54 seconds before Shelby Graser made it 6-0 Catholic with a free-position shot. After Juniata got on the board, Madeline Kelly scored on a free-position shot to give Catholic a 7-1 lead after the first. 

Catholic extended its lead by one goal before halftime, scoring three to Juniata's two in the second period. Sophomore goalie Lauren Davidson made three of her six saves in the second period for the Cardinals. Olsen's third and final goal of the game came with 3:55 left in the first half on an assist from Lee as Catholic's lead moved back to six goals despite Juniata scoring the first goal of the period and holding the Cardinals scoreless for more than 12 minutes. Juniata scored another goal before Caroline Regan scored her first goal of the season with 1:51 left in the half. Caroline Beckett scored the final goal of the second quarter with four seconds left to put Catholic ahead 10-3 at halftime. 

Sawyer's third goal of the game put Catholic ahead 11-3 off a Mia Perkell assist with 11:51 left in the third period. Juniata scored the next two goals, but Mattea Del Peschio scored a woman-down goal with 5:30 left in the quarter off a pass from Lauren Bendo. Riley Cherkes scored with 57 seconds left in the third to put Catholic ahead 13-6 after three. 

The Cardinals wrapped things up nicely in the fourth, scoring the first five goals of the period to take an 18-6 lead before closing out an 18-7 win. Beckett and Cherkes scored the first two goals of the period within 23 seconds of each other to make it 15-6. Tori Wilsey scored her first and second career goals to put Catholic up 17-6. Her first goal came off of Lee's third assist of the day before a free-position goal at the 8:30 mark. Sawyer closed out the scoring with her fourth goal of the day. 

Sawyer's five points put her up to 15 for her freshman season (11g 4a) and she remains perfect on free-position shots, scoring all five of her attempts. Beckett surpassed the 40-point mark for the season, now sitting at 41 with 20 goals and a team-high 21 assists. 

Bendo stuffed the stat sheet with an assist, four ground balls, four caused turnovers, and a draw control. Rachel Rubenstein added a game-high seven draw controls and a ground ball while Lee added four draw controls and two caused turnovers to go with her three assists. 

Catholic will hit the road again on Wednesday, taking on Goucher at 5 p.m.