WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic University women's lacrosse team honored its seniors in style with an emphatic victory over Moravain on Saturday afternoon.
As the program celebrated senior day, all four seniors started and were vital contributors to the victory. Riley Martin was the leading goal scorer for the Cardinals, putting four past Kayla Graef in the Moravian goal. Mattea Del Peschio scored twice and handed out a hat trick of assists while Rachel Rubenstein led the defensive effort with four caused turnovers and three ground balls. Lauren Davidson made five saves, including her 200th-career stop, and earned the victory in the Cardinal cage.
Maggie Traynor set the tone for Catholic, pushing her team out to the perfect start. The freshman scored just 25 seconds into the contest. Then, after Jessie Lee won the ensuing draw control, Traynor took a Del Peschio feed to score again just 22 seconds later.
Izzy Fiore got the next goal before Traynor completed her hat trick in less than 10 minutes of game time. After Del Peschio found the net to make it 5-0, Moravian showed good fightback, scoring twice in the final minute of the period.
Alex Cherenson and Melissa Elefonte scored the first two goals of the second quarter to complete a 4-0 run and pull the Greyhounds within one.
Catholic stemmed the run though as Jill Kennedy scored immediately following another big draw control by Lee. Meghan McDonogh's team scored five out of the final six goals of the quarter to take a 10-5 lead into the halftime break.
Mia Perkell scored the first two goals of the second half, becoming the second Cardinal to notch a hat trick and pushing the lead to 12-5. Again Moravian refused to go away, rattling off three of the next four goals to cut the lead to 13-9 with six minutes remaining in the third. It was all Catholic from then on, however, as the Cardinals scored the final nine goals of the game. McDonogh's team outscored Moravian 8-0 in the final quarter as Riley Martin pushed her tally to four with three goals in the final stanza.
Catholic found its edge in the clear, going a perfect 14-for-14 while holding the Greyhounds to just 11-for-19. The Cardinals also took care of the ball at a high level, committed a season-low eight turnovers as a team, down from the previous mark of 13 that Catholic had achieved twice.
The draw control was another area where Catholic excelled. Lee alone nearly won as many as Moravian did as a team, claiming a new career-high 10 while Ariana Bransfield won five. Martin, Lauren Bendo and Caroline Gaines each chipped in with two apiece as the Greyhounds only managed 12 for the whole of the contest. Lee's 10 draw controls is the most by a Cardinal in a single game since 2016 when Allie Bond won 12 in a win over Goucher.
Catholic has now scored 55 goals over its last two games after downing Goucher 23-2. The Cardinals will look to continue their momentum on Wednesday when they hit the road for a conference battle with Elizabethtown. Opening draw control is set for 4 p.m.
