The Eastern Mennonite lacrosse women played their first home game in the 2021 season on Saturday, falling to the visiting Ferrum Panthers by a score of 20-2.

The Royals fall to 0-2 in the early stages of the season, with the Panthers improving their record to 6-3, 1-2 in conference. 

The Panthers kicked the scoring off in a hurry, finding the back of the net in the first minute of play with a shot from Kaitlyn Harley with the assist from Natalie Hughes. 

Ferrum added another, pushing the score 2-0 early on, but the Royals cut the deficit in half with an unassisted goal from Meghan Hickey (Stewartstown, Pa./Kennard-Dale) at the 27:01 mark of the contest. 

From there, the Panthers would begin a 12-0 scoring run in the first period. Morgan Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) added another goal on the board for the Royals in the final minutes of the first period, sending the game into the half at a score of 14-2 in favor of visiting Ferrum. 

The Royals improved in the second half, winning draw controls consistently. They won seven draw controls over Ferrum, who were unable to win one in the second period. 

EMU was unable to get anything offensive going, though. The Panthers added six more on the day, pushing the final score to 20-2 when the final whistle blew. 

Hickey was the main offensive threat for the Royals in the contest, putting off four shots on goal. 

Mykenzie Davis (Lititz, Pa./Dayspring Christian) got off three shots on the day to add to her four groundballs and two caused turnovers. 

Arianna Nixon (Charlottesville, Va./Monticello) had eight saves on the day for EMU.

The Royals hit the field again on Wednesday, Apr. 7, taking on the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins at home.