By Seth Preuss

SALEM --- The George Fox women's lacrosse team traveled to face the Bearcats of Willamette University and came away with a Northwest Conference win after a 20-1 final score on Saturday, March 16.

Recap

Grace Matteson put the Bruins on the board early with two goals in the opening minute of play, once with a feed from Jennifer Burke and once from a free position shot 30 seconds later. Lois Ray added a third goal a minute later on another free position attempt for a 3-0 lead after two minutes of play, and the Bruins cruised from that point to the final whistle.

Burke scored or assisted on five of the Bruins' first-half scores, and Ray was involved on five goals as well as the Bruins jumped out to a 15-1 lead by halftime.

Meredith Teel, Isabella Alfaro, Madison Strickland, Andrea Garcia-Milla, and Bailey Faust joined Matteson, Ray, and Burke on the box score with goals in the opening period to take the commanding lead at the break. Ray and Burke each notched a hat trick by intermission.

The Bruins' defense pitched a shutout in the second half while the offense added five more tallies to the scoreboard. Ray found the back of the net five minutes into the second period to break open the period, and Strickland followed with back to back goals over the following ten minutes to join Ray and Burke with a hat trick.

Teel scored with just over 14 minutes remaining to make the Bruins' lead 19-1 and became the fourth Bruin to notch a hat trick in the game.

Garcia-Milla capped the scoring with a feed from Matteson in the final ten minutes for the 20-1 final score.

Top Performers

Ray finished with a team-high six points after scoring four times and dealing a pair of assists out to her teammates. Burke was a step behind with four goals and an assist, and Teel and Strickland each scored three times as the other Bruins to record hat tricks against the Bearcats. Ella Rand made three saves while only allowing a single goal in 60 minutes of work.

What It Means

The Bruins improve to 5-0 overall in 2019 and are now 3-0 against NWC opponents this year.

What Happens Next

George Fox welcomes Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) to Austin Sports Complex on Monday, March 18, at 6:00 pm for a break from NWC play.