MEMPHIS - Senior Morgan Fuller and sophomore Kendall Cunningham each scored four goals as the Rhodes College women's lacrosse team scored 13 goals in the first half en route to a dominant 17-5 win over SUNY New Paltz on Thursday afternoon as Mason Field.

Rhodes outshot the Hawks, 31-19, with 28 of their shots on target. The Lynx also forced 13 New Paltz turnovers while only turning the ball over six times on Thursday afternoon. Rhodes also held New Paltz to 5 of 9 on clear attempts and won 14 of 24 draw controls.

Junior Ashley Dill opened the game up with a goal a little over a minute into the first half. Three minutes later, sophomore Kendall Cunningham struck for her first goal of the game to open up a 2-0 lead.

The Hawks got a goal one minute later, but Rhodes rattled off three consecutive goals as Dill scored her second of the game followed by goals from sophomores Maggie Rippeto and Ashley Doyle.

New Paltz gained another goal to cut the deficit to three, but Rhodes would go on to score eight straight goals in the final 15 minutes of the half to blow it wide open. 

Sophomore Olivia Holmes opened the streak with a goal while Fuller and Cunningham would score six of the next seven goals while Fuller added her second of the game. Fuller scored four goals in a span of 10 minutes while Cunningham notched a hat trick in the first half.

Cunningham would make it nine straight goals to start the second half as she scored her fourth goal of the game and team-leading 27th of the season to put the Lynx ahead 14-2.

New Paltz scored three goals in the half, but could never get within 10 as Holmes scored her second goal of the game in the second half followed by goals from freshmen Annika Hedlund and Taylor Ansel.

Fuller and Cunningham each had a caused turnover while Fuller picked up two ground balls and Cunningham corralled two draw controls. Doyle a well rounded game with a goal, two assists, five draw controls, four caused turnovers, and four ground balls. Dill, Rippeto, and Holmes each had a pair of goals with Dill and Rippeto adding an assist each. Hedlund also had a goal and an assist.

Defensively, Rippeto and freshman Daly Colarossi each had a caused turnover while Colarossi and Hedlund each had three ground balls. Sophomore Katherine Tooley followed up an excellent outing yesterday with a 10 save performance on Thursday.

Rhodes is 8-2 on the year and will go back to Southern Athletic Association play this weekend as they head to Conway, Ark. to battle Hendrix College. Start time is set for 2 PM on Saturday afternoon.