ELON, N.C. – Leading from the onset, 16th-ranked Elon University women's lacrosse earned a 12-9 victory over Vanderbilt on Wednesday night, March 8, at Rudd Field to move to 6-1 on the 2017 campaign.
 
"We started the game really connected and we stayed that way throughout even though it got really physical," said Elon head coach Josh Hexter. "Our girls held their composure and we just had fun. We did the little things to support each other and we had fun playing at a high level."
 
Sloane Kessler led Elon's attack with four goals on five shots. The senior also had two ground balls and two draw controls. Stephanie Asher added three goals and an assist with a ground ball while Nicole Sinacori scored twice with an assist, three ground balls, one caused turnover and one draw control. In the cage, Rachel Ramirez made 13 saves and picked up three ground balls to go with two caused turnovers.
 
Avery Hoelting and Emily Mathewson led the Commodores (2-2) with two goals and an assist apiece to lead the Vanderbilt charge. The Commodores won 15 draw controls on the night with Jill Doherty (7) and Kayla Peterson (6) combining for 13 of them.
 
The Rundown
Elon scored each of the first three goals of the night with Abby Godfrey's only goal of the evening coming just 18 seconds into the game. After Elon opened up its three-goal lead early on, the two teams traded goals and the Phoenix led 7-3 before the Commodores pulled within three at 7-4 with a goal 20 seconds before halftime.
 
Vanderbilt opened the second half with a goal to cut the lead to just 7-5, but Elon went on a 5-2 run from there to take a 7-5 lead with 18 minutes to play to a 12-7 advantage with 6:46 to go. Though Vanderbilt scored twice in the final 1:07, Elon's lead was too much to overcome.
 
The win avenges last season's loss at Vanderbilt when the Phoenix rallied from a five-goal deficit in the final minutes to cut the lead to 10-9 with a minute to play. The Commodores held off Elon's comeback attempt, though, to take the one-goal win.
 
Up Next
The Phoenix will travel to No. 2 North Carolina on Tuesday, March 14. Opening draw is set for 6 p.m. The defending national champion Tar Heels have won all three meetings to date with the Phoenix and have been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 nationally in each meeting thus far.