April 16, 2016
 
CONWAY, S.C. – Behind two Chanticleers players netting a hat trick, including a game-high four goals from senior Charlotte O'Leary, Coastal Carolina capitalized on an early lead to earn a 14-6 Senior Day victory over Longwood women's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at Brooks Stadium.
 
O'Leary spearheaded the Coastal (8-5, 4-2 BSC) attack with her fourth hat trick in five games upon scoring three first-half goals to give her squad the lead from start to finish just three minutes into the contest. Also putting in a three-goal effort for the Chanticleers was freshman midfielder Haley Alexander, who gave the senior-freshman duo a combined seven goals, which helped contribute to their squad's first home win vs. the Lancers (7-8, 3-3 BSC) since the series began in 2013.

"Today was Coastal's Senior Day, and, unfortunately, their team played with more intensity and executed better than us." said Longwood head coach Elaine Jones. "We can do great things, but we're running on either hot or cold. Today we were on the cold end and simply did not play well."
 
After O'Leary's game-opening goal, the Chanticleers scored four straight goals upon winning four consecutive draw controls to take a 5-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game. The run was capped off by a goal from Coastal's all-time leader in career goals Sara Nolan, who was set up in front of the goal by team assists leader Maggie Carr.
 
Longwood quickly fought back to reel off three straight goals after senior midfielder Sarah Butler capitalized on the first Lancer possession of the game and senior defender Shiloh McKenzie found the net twice. Butler scored after securing the Lancers' first draw control of the game while McKenzie was set up for her first by senior attacker Katie McHugh before converting a free position shot to cut the deficit to 5-3 with 16:50 left in the first half.
 
Over the final 16 minutes of the half, however, Coastal extended its lead to 9-3 following a run of four straight goals that included two apiece from Alexander and O'Leary. Alexander started and capped off the run after being found by Carr both times, and  O'Leary was also found by Carr before finding the net for a third time on the day on a free position shot.
 
At the start of the second half, Longwood drew first blood with a score by McHugh to shorten the Coastal lead to 9-4 in the 35th minute. McHugh made her way down the field and drew contact to set up her free position goal following a caused turnover by McKenzie on the defensive side, which led to the lowest deficit in the final 30 minutes of the half for the Lancers.
 
From there it was all Chanticleers, as Coastal scored five consecutive goals within an 11 minute span to push its lead up to 14-4. O'Leary ended the second five-goal spree with her fourth and final score off a pass from teammate Rachel Ferrara and Alexander also rounded off her hat trick with her goal during that stretch.
 
Within the last 5:08 of the game, the Lancers added another pair of goals to lessen the blow by avoiding a double-digit loss. Madison Stair passed the ball to a sprinting McHugh for a breakaway goal after a Chanticleer turnover, and then at the 57th-minute mark McKenzie found the net for the last time on the day when she put in a free position shot.
 
Throughout the game, Coastal dominated ball possession with an 18-4 advantage on draw controls won to limit Longwood's chances on the attack. The Chanticleers turned those possession into scoring opportunities, as they finished the day with six goals directly coming off draw controls.
 
Senior defender Shiloh McKenzie stepped up on offense to lead Longwood in scoring with her own hat trick. In addition to accounting for half of the Lancer goals, she also converted two of the squad's three successful free position shots on the day.
 
One game removed from breaking Longwood's all-time single-season point record, Katie McHugh scored two goals and added an assist to extend her nation-leading points total to 84. The senior attacker is now within eight points of the all-time career points record.
 
Butler, who entered the game ranking second to McHugh on the national points leaderboard, also reached the 80 point mark with her lone goal on the day. She currently ranks fifth on the Lancers' all-time career points chart and needs four more points to move into fourth.
 
The loss drops the Lancers to 3-3 in Big South play, which keeps them at fifth place in the conference standings. The Chanticleers improve to 4-2 in the conference and retain their spot in fourth place with a one-game advantage over Longwood for a chance to host a first round matchup in the conference tournament heading into the final week of the season.
 
Coastal goalkeeper Jenna Stover, who came into the game with the league's third-best goals against average, captained a defense that held its opponent to single-digit goals for the second straight game to pick up the win. Stover made six saves, all of which came in the first half, and also collected three ground balls in 46 minutes of action.
 
Longwood seeks to rebound from the defeat when it returns home for Senior Day to host unbeaten Big South foe High Point on Wednesday, April 20. The final contest of the regular season at  the Athletics Complex is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.

"We'll have to fix our consistency issues, along some other things for our upcoming games," said Jones.
 
#GoWood