The Lindenwood women's lacrosse team defeated the McKendree Bearcats by a final score of 13-9 on Wednesday evening from Hunter Stadium in St Charles, Mo. The Lions were lifted by a 10-goal first half, which carried them to their 11th consecutive victory to begin the 2019 season.

GAME OVERVIEW
Lindenwood built an early 3-0 lead over the first 4:43 of play, as it received scores from three different Lions. Carly Fedorowski and Sami Smit scored back-to-back free-position goals for Lindenwood, before Garland Fiser netted an unassisted score.

McKendree tallied two of the next three goals to bring the score to 4-2 in favor of Lindenwood with just over 20 minutes to play in the first half.

The Lions answered by scoring the next four goals, and six of the final eight goals of the half, to enter halftime holding a 10-4 lead. Hailey Gallant and Emma Wildhart each scored twice during Lindenwood's scoring run to close out the opening half.

The visiting Bearcats would not go quietly into the night, as they rattled off four straight goals to begin the second half, trimming their deficit to just two goals with just over 21 minutes remaining in the game.

Lindenwood clamped down defensively, limiting McKendree to just one more goal for the night.

The Lions would add three more scores to their total before the end of the game, and prevailed by a final score of 13-9.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Wildhart picked up her second straight hat trick to tie for the team lead with a three-goal performance.
- Wildhart was credited with the game-winning goal, her first of the season.
- Gallant also scored three times for the Lions, her sixth game this season with at least three goals.
- Ellie Faulk was Lindenwood's other multi-goal scorer, finishing the evening with two goals. Faulk also added one assist.
- Morgan Reader anchored the Lion defense with a team-high marks in caused turnovers (5), draw controls (5), and ground balls (5).
- Remi Larson contributed three caused turnovers.
- Aly Smith stopped nine of the 18 shots she faced in goal for the Lions, as she earned her 11th win of the season.
- Smith had six second-half saves, as she helped to hold off the upset-minded Bearcats.
- Lindenwood was 20-of-23 on its clear attempts. 

UP NEXT
Lindenwood will resume the RMAC portion of its schedule on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The Lions will host CSU-Pueblo from Hunter Stadium.