GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's lacrosse team welcomed the Cardinal of North Central College for their final non-conference matchup of the season. After a close first half the Knights dominated the second half as the picked up a 20-13 victory and improved their overall record to 7-3.
 
In the first quarter, the Knights wasted no time getting on the board as freshman Delaney Johnson (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) found junior Jacey Smith (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) who sent the ball past the Cardinal goalkeeper just one minute into play. North Central bit back with a goal of their own before Smith once again found her way past defenders and made the score 2-1. 
 
The Cardinals found a way to even the score a few minutes later before senior Meghan Chang (Clarksburg, Md./Clarksburg) took over and scored back-to-back goals to give Calvin the 4-2 lead at the end of the quarter.
 
As the second quarter got underway, North Central drew first blood as they scored to cut the Knights lead down to one. Junior Audrey Booher (Fishers, Ind./Heritage Christian) gave Calvin a boost when she scored two goals one after another to make the score 6-3. However, after taking advantage of some free position shots, the Cardinals found momentum as they scored four straight goals and claimed a 7-6 lead heading into halftime.
 
The Knights started to take control of the game in the third quarter as they outscored North Central 7-2 and finished the quarter with a 13-9 lead. Junior Morgan Bethard (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt) notched two goals while Smith and Booher continued to add to their lead.
 
Calvin continued their goal scoring spree in the fourth as they notched seven more goals to put the game out of reach of the Cardinals and allowed the Knights to pick up the 20-13 victory. Smith finished with a team high seven goals while Booher finished her evening with five goals. Chang finished her night with two assists, three ground balls, and nine draw controls while sophomore Alex Petrusma (Milford, Mich./Milford) had a team high seven ground balls.
 
In goals, sophomore Hannah Rizzo (Waterville, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) notched six saves and picked up five ground balls.
 
COACHES COMMENTS:
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Saturday, April 5th when they travel to Kalamazoo to take on the Hornets at 1PM.