MOC women's lacrosse team rolls to first-ever win

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 8, 2013 1:47 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Neither in-state foe Chowan University nor miserable, bone-chilling conditions could cool down Mount Olive's offense Thursday evening.

JUCO transfer Michelle Scannell scored the first goal for the Trojans, who launched their inaugural women's lacrosse season with a dominating 17-2 performance over the Hawks at Amon Field.

Scannell logged a hat trick (three goals), while freshman Riann Daziel delivered a match-high four goals and handed out two assists during a steady rainfall. JUCO transfer Kara Lyon contributed two goals and three assists.

Overall, 10 MOC players accounted for at least one goal against Chowan, which was also playing its first-ever match in program history.

"Individually, we played well," first-year Trojans head coach Grant Kelam said. "Our sticks are not where they need to be yet as a Conference Carolinas contender. With such a young team, it's a matter of time before they come together as they start feeling each other out.

"I think one of the strong points of our team right now, although we do have players who are a little more mature such as our juniors, the younger players are the stars who are going to be scoring."

Scannell notched the program's first goal off a free position shot less than five minutes into the game. The midfielder converted another shot off Lyon's assist 1 1/2 minutes later, and the Trojans caught fire.

Daziel and sophomore Heather Cockburn each connected on an unassisted goal within 2 1/2 minutes of each other. Daziel assisted on Allie Dunn's initial goal of the season to make it 5-0 nearly midway through the opening half.

MOC led 12-0 at halftime and extended the margin to 15-0 before Chowan avoided the shutout on Adriea Herndon's unassisted goal with 10:26 left in regulation.

The Trojans owned a 31-6 advantage in shots, capitalized on 24 turnovers and won 19 groundballs. Freshman keeper Sarah Snell recorded three saves between the pipes.

"We played very good one-on-one defense and drew a lot of charges," Kelam said. "We were getting our bodies there first, which is something we put a lot of effort on (during practice). We emphasize footwork every day. We did well on the 50-50 balls as far as ground balls ... draws.

"We might not have gotten possession of the ball on some draws, but the ball was going where we wanted it to go and it was just a matter of coming up with the ball at that point."