FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood women's lacrosse offense put up 15 goals in their first Big South win of the season Saturday against Gardner-Webb, but it was the historic performance from senior defender Hollyn Royster that stole the show.

A native of Richmond, Va., Royster was all over the field wreaking havoc with her program record 11 caused turnovers, headlining a Lancer defensive performance that saw 20 caused turnovers in the win.

"It feels unbelievably amazing to now hold the record for single game caused turnovers," Royster said. "I really couldn't have done it without my teammates playing an awesome game as well. It feels even better that we came out with a win."

Royster also won a team-best five draws and seven ground balls to go along with her record-setting afternoon.

"While I was on defense, all that was going through my head was 'I'm going to do anything to get this ball.' Having that mindset motivated me to get after it today and give it all I've got," Royster said. "My game plan was to leave it all out on the field and I can proudly say that I succeeded in that."

Royster's defensive gem wasn't wasted as the Lancers scored 15 goals on 31 shots – their highest scoring output in a Big South game this season.

"I'm really proud of our team's effort today," said sixth-year head coach Elaine Jones, who kept her perfect 6-0 record against the Runnin' Bulldogs in tact Saturday. "They showed a lot of mental resilience in rebounding from the loss on Wednesday."

The home victory – which improved their record to 5-3 at the Athletics Complex – gave Longwood (6-7, 1-2 Big South) its first Big South win of the season after facing perennial power Winthrop and conference surprise Radford to begin the seven-game slate.

"We made some defensive tweaks to our game plan yesterday and the defense as a whole did a great job executing those adjustments," Jones said. "Corri Calandra's name won't show up in the stats, but she really worked hard in her defensive role, while Hollyn Royster had a phenomenal performance all over the field, which was awesome to see."

Senior attacker Riley Dolan made it five-straight games with five-plus assists thanks to her seven dishes Saturday as her recent tear has moved her into the top spot in the NCAA in assists. Saturday's seven-assist performance tightened her stranglehold on that title.

Dolan, as she's done many times recently, accounted for seven of the team's 11 assists Saturday as sophomore Lexi Davis dished out three and Molly Barkman added one.

Meanwhile, All-Big South sophomore Kaitlin Luccarelli tied her season-high with five goals to lead the Lancers offensively. Luccarelli also collected three ground balls while Charleigh Kondas scored a hat trick and Barkman and Dana Joss each added two goals.

Gardner-Webb (2-11, 0-3 Big South) got a hat trick off the bench from Hailey Maranto, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with the potent Lancer attack.

Maranto was joined in the scoring column by two goals from Emily Gilsdorf and one goal from the trio of Talen Francis, Lindsey Lippert and Eilish Gately.

Despite losing the draws 16-8, Longwood dominated most other categories including shots (31-22), ground balls (37-24), clears (22-14) and turnovers (18-29).

"There are still some aspects of our game we need to continue to sharpen, but I'm pleased with the win today," Jones said. "Moving forward, we need to carry this resilient attitude and 'get after it' mentality into our upcoming practices and next conference game."

In the net, senior captain Imani West collected seven saves for her 139th of the season in Saturday's win, ranking third in the nation. West also grabbed five ground balls and caused two turnovers as she reached the 400-save milestone in her career.

Longwood hits the road Wednesday as they take on heated rival Liberty in an anticipated defensive battle between the nation's best team at causing turnovers – Liberty – and a Longwood squad that's coming off a win where they forced a season-best 20 from Gardner-Webb.

First draw between the Lancers and Flames is set to go up at 4 p.m.

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