MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The Rhodes College women's lacrosse jumped out to a 6-0 lead and cruised throughout the second half as they defeated the Berry Vikings, 7-1, to claim the Southern Athletic Association Regular Season Championship on Saturday afternoon.
Rhodes was dominant on the defensive end and used a hot start offensively to down the Vikings. They out shot Berry, 12-9, including a 10-7 advantage in shots on target. Rhodes forced 18 turnovers on the day and held an 11-9 advantage in ground balls.
The Lynx built a 5-0 lead in the first eight minutes as sophomore
Olivia Holmes opened the game with a goal one minute into the matchup. Moments later, sophomore
Kendall Cunningham made it 2-0 while Holmes followed her with her second goal of the game.
Cunningham scored back-to-back goals to make it 5-0 with 22:57 to go in the half. As things slowed down, senior
Morgan Fuller scored a goal right before the break to make it 6-0 at halftime.
Rhodes simply possessed the ball in the second half as they looked to run clock and get out with a win and the title. Berry got their first goal of the game midway through the second half, but sophomore
Maggie Rippeto answered almost immediately to push the lead back out to six. It was all the Lynx needed as they ran out the clock for the win.
Cunningham finished with a hat trick to go with three draw controls while Holmes had two goals of her own. Sophomore
Ashley Doyle was brilliant with five assists on the afternoon to go with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Defensively, freshman
Daly Colarossi finished with three caused turnovers while freshman
Dylan Craddock added two. Both Colarossi and Craddock also added two ground balls each. Sophomore
Katherine Tooley finished with six saves on the afternoon.
Rhodes finishes the regular season with an 11-4 record and 4-1 mark in the SAA. They will play next Sunday as the No. 2 seed in the Southern Athletic Association Championship and will welcome No. 3 Birmingham-Southern or No. 6 Hendrix after a three-way tie for the top spot with Centre and BSC. The time will be announced later in the week.
