The No. 3 Lindenwood women's lacrosse team had too much pressure for Fort Lewis to handle on Wednesday night in Hunter Stadium. The Lady Lions won their conference opener over the Skyhawks by a 16-5 margin.
 
Lindenwood forced 25 turnovers in the game, and made it difficult for Fort Lewis to get any open looks close to the goals. The Lady Lions even made it hard for the Skyhawks to bring the ball up field, as they forced nine turnovers on clearing attempts. That pressure held Fort Lewis to just 20 shots in the game, and only 12 of those shots were on goal.
 
Morgan Reader had a big game for Lindenwood's defense with a school-record seven caused turnovers. She also led the team with four groundballs. Goalie Rachel Ortell made five saves in nine shot attempts, and she also had a caused turnover and three groundballs.
 
Offensively, the Lady Lions took 31 shots and had 26 shots on goal. The team had a balanced effort with eight players scoring goals, and nine total players having at least one point. Carly Fedorowski and Maria Johnson both had three goals, and Allison Hurley had a team-high three assists. Sophie Buelow and Sami Smit had four points each, with two goals and two assists.
 
Lindenwood led 5-2 late in the first half, when Smit and Cassie Stucklen scored within 49 seconds to give the Lady Lions a 7-2 halftime lead. The team then put the game away by scoring five of the first six goals of the second half, including three in the first five minutes.
 
With the victory, Lindenwood moves to 6-0 on the season and 1-0 in RMAC action. The Lady Lions will travel to Colorado this weekend for a two-game road trip, starting with a Sunday game at Colorado State-Pueblo.