The Eastern Mennonite women's lacrosse team dropped their opener on Wednesday against Bridgewater by a final score of 22-8.

The Royals fall to 0-1 with the loss, with the Eagles improving to 1-1 on the year, 0-1 in the ODAC. 

The Eagles kicked off the action in the contest, scoring at the 28:00 mark in the first period from the stick of Kaity Petersheim with the assist by Ashley Venit. 

EMU would tie up the score quickly with a goal from Juliana Ghally (Aldie, Va./John Champe) from a free position shot, her first of the season. Less than a minute later, Meghan Hickey (Stewartstown, Pa./Kennard-Dale) scored again for the Royals, taking the lead. 

Moments later, the Eagles would even up the score with a goal from Annika Benson, her fourth of the season. From then on, the game would be all Bridgewater as they keep up consistent offensive pressure on EMU. 

Bridgewater would go on to ourscore the Royals 13-4 in the first period, sending the game into the half with EMU having some ground to make up. 

Ghally would notch her second goal of the day at the 28:51 mark in the second period, inching the Royals closer to the Eagles. Grace Hughes (Rosedale, Md./Eastern Technical) would follow it up with a goal of her own, her first of the season. 

The Eagles would take control from there, pulling away from the visiting Royals. 

With four minutes left in the contest, Bridgewater's Brooke Hanson made the final goal of the day, finalizing the score at 22-8 in favor of the Eagles. 

Ghally led the charge for EMU with her three goals and 10 shots on goal. Mykenzie Davis (Lititz, Pa./Dayspring Christian) added eight draw controls with Morgan Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) right behind with six. 

The Royals are set to hit the field again this Saturday, Mar. 27 at home against Ferrum with a start time of 2:00pm.