MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The fifth-ranked Wesleyan women's lacrosse team took a commanding nine-goal lead into halftime en route to a 15-6 victory over Babson on Wednesday night in its home-opener on Smith Field.

Abby Manning led the way with four points on three goals, all in the first half, as the Cardinals improved to 2-0 on the year. Erin Jayne scored three goals for the Beavers as they dropped to 2-2.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• It took less than three minutes for the home team to get on the board as Johanna Copeland caught a pass from Abbey Logan right in front of the net, sending a shot inside the right post. Less than two minutes later, she tallied another goal with an assist from Sydney Prokupek.
• Babson registered its first goal of the game at the 22:14 mark to cut the deficit to one. Valerie Quinlan stood behind the net and found Claudia Dodge in front, who fired one into the back of the net.
• However, Wesleyan rallied with a 7-0 run over the next 20 minutes to go ahead 9-1 with 2:41 on the clock.
• Jayne snapped the Cardinals' scoring stretch shortly after, but back-to-back goals from Emma Richards gave the home team an 11-2 halftime lead.
• Early in the second half, Wesleyan extended its lead with three unanswered goals including two from Chessy Greenwald as the Cardinals went ahead 14-2 with 14:57 left to play.
• The teams exchanged goals before Babson closed out the game on a 3-0 run including a score with two seconds remaining on the clock.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Four Cardinals scored multiple goals – Manning (3), Copeland (2), Greenwald (2), and Richards. Prokupek led the home team with two assists, while also scoring once.
• Kate Balicki led Wesleyan with five draw controls and Jordan Ansell led the defense with four caused turnovers and four ground balls.
• Goalie Allegra Grant started and played the first half, recording two saves for the win. Corin Grady played 15:29 in the second without giving up a goal while stopping two shots, and Abby Wolk recorded just over 14 minutes between the posts with one save.
• Dodge, Sophie McCann, and Juliana McGuire each scored a goal for Babson and Quinlan led the team with five draw controls.
• Wesleyan outshot Babson 31-13 and held a 14-8 edge in ground balls. The Cardinals were 4-for-5 on free position shots while the Beavers finished 1-for-5.

UP NEXT:

• Wesleyan heads to Colorado for its Spring Break trip and will play two games on the campus of Colorado College. The Cardinals will face the host school on Monday, March 9 at 6 pm ET and Plymouth State on Wednesday, March 11 at 1 pm ET.