FARMVILLE, Va. – Led by an eight-point performance from junior attacker Molly Barcikowski, VCU outlasted the Longwood women's lacrosse team Wednesday afternoon 15-8, despite senior goalkeeper Imani West's sixth-straight 10-goal performance.

Wednesday's contest was the first at home for Longwood since the season opener after a three-game road swing across the Commonwealth and Washington, D.C., as well as the first ever meeting between the Lancers and Rams.

Barcikowski, who tallied a hat trick and assisted on five others, led a VCU attack that saw five multi-goal scorers to overcome a 10-save day from West and multi-goal games from seniors Riley Dolan and Madison Stair.

"We just weren't sharp today in any fashion," said sixth-year head coach Elaine Jones. "The team came out flat and unfortunately stayed flat for the entire game."

After the Lancers and Rams traded goals in the opening nine-plus minutes, redshirt-junior Sky Hyatt scored a goal to jumpstart a 7-3 run over the final 20 minutes of the opening frame and 10-5 halftime margin. In the opening half, the Rams extended the lead to as much as 10-4 before Dolan's second tally of the contest with under a minute to play.

Dolan's two-goal, two-assist afternoon was good enough for four points as she sits atop the Lancer leaderboard with 16 on eight goals and eight assists. Dolan continued her hot start to 2018 after posting a career-best 47 in a breakout junior campaign last season. She headlines a trio of Lancers with double-digit points as Stair sits second with 13 and sophomore Molly Barkman has 10 behind her one-goal, two-assist performance Wednesday.

Barkman's also won three draws while classmate Dana Joss won a team-best four in the loss.

The second half saw VCU hold onto their lead as the Rams outscored the Lancers 5-3 behind two goals from Barcikowski and tallies from Blaire Langeler, Jessica Del Rossi and Anna Koniencki were enough to outduel strikes from Longwood's Lexi Davis, Barkman and Hannah Tirrell.

Tirrell's tally in the second half was her second collegiate goal after scoring in the Lancers' loss at William & Mary eight days ago.

In the cage, West collected 10 more saves for her 60th just five games into the season to go along with five ground balls for a team-leading 21st. The senior captain, who entered Wednesday's contest with the second most saves in the country, added onto her season tally as she faced a barrage of 38 shots from VCU.

All three of Dolan, Stair and Katilin Luccarelli extended their points streak as the trio have either scored or assisted on a Lancer goal in each of the first five contests. Dolan, Luccarelli and Stair have combined for a total of 36 points on 25 goals and 11 assists.

"We need to learn a lesson from this loss and every player needs to be 100% ready to go when we step on the field against our next opponent," Jones said.

Longwood stays at home as the second of their four-game homestand brings in Mount St. Mary's a team the Lancers defeated 13-10 on the road. First draw between the Lancers and Mountaineers goes up at 12 p.m. from Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.

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