BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The George Mason women's lacrosse team continued its' historic start on Sunday afternoon, moving to 5-0 on the season with a 19-11 win at Gardner-Webb.
The Patriots were once again led by graduate student
Shannon Tuozzo, who tallied a season-high six goals, two assists and eight points to go along with five draw controls and four ground balls.
It was all Mason from the get-go it built a 7-1 lead over the opening 15:30 of the game. Tuozzo,
Peyton Farley and
Morgan Gunn all tallied a pair of goals in the run as the Patriots took advantage of two power play opportunities. However, the Bulldogs (0-4) responded with six of the next seven goals to cut the lead to just one (8-7) with under a minute left in the half. Tuozzo completed her first half hattrick with final tally of the half to give Mason a two-goal lead at the half.
The Patriots outscored the Bulldogs 3-2 in the third quarter to push their lead back to three at 12-9. Gunn completed her hat trick and
Kaitlyn Bestick and
Dahlia Trippel also each added a goal in the stanza.
Both ends of the field stepped up in the fourth quarter for Mason as the visitors scored a game-high seven goals while allowing just two. The Patriots opened the quarter with six-straight over a nine-minute period with goals from five different players.
Regan Bestick played the second half for the Patriots, making four saves, including three in the fourth quarter, to boost the defense.
PATRIOT POINTS
- Joining Shannon Tuozzo with season-high goal tallies were Morgan Gunn (4) and Kaitlyn Bestick (3), who notched their first hat tricks of the season
- Riley Ellis paced the offense with a career-high four assists
- Defensively, Bestick and Lauren Donofrio each tallied a career-high three caused turnovers
- Mason won the ground ball battle, 21-15, led by Tuozzo's four and Regan Bestick's career-high three
- The Patriots also won the draw control battle, 20-13, led by Lauren Distad's nine wins
UP NEXT
The Patriots will complete their two-game road swing with a short trip to D.C. on Thursday, Feb. 29. Opening draw against American is set for 2 p.m.
