Box Score Mary Washington came to Harrisonburg on Sunday as the No. 11 team in the most recent Kookaburra/NFHCA national poll. They also played like it, caging five goals in the first half en route to handing Eastern Mennonite a 7-2 defeat.
The visitors dominated play in the opening minutes and led 3-0 after just 11:04. The Eagles then added two more in the 24th and 25th minutes, taking a 5-0 lead into halftime.
The Royals settled down in the second and started to play even with UMW. After allowing a sixth goal, the women came right back a minute later with their first score off the stick of freshman Jenessa Derstine (Harleysville, PA/Christopher Dock) in the 51st minute.
With 7:27 left to play, EMU earned a penalty stroke which Adriana Santiago (Souderton, PA/Christopher Dock) calmly buried in the bottom left of the cage to make it 6-2.
But that would be it for the Lady Royals. Mary Washington added one more goal in the closing minutes to produce the final 7-2 margin.
Although each team had 11 shots in the second half, the Eagles had a 23-18 edge overall. There were also numerous corners in the contest, 15-10 in favor of UMW.
Goalie Mary Beth Danaher (Matoaca, VA/Matoaca) finished with seven saves. Defenders Mandy Stowers (Powhatan, VA/Powhatan) and Mollie Lehman (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) each had a defensive save as well.
Derstine and Santiago each tallied four shots on goal.
The loss snaps the women's three-game winning streak and evens their record at 4-4. Eastern Mennonite gets its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference contest next time out, travelling to take on Bridgewater on Tuesday. Game time is 4:30pm.
