Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
1-1
Gardner-Webb
0-4
Historic Win For CMU Lacrosse
2/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Lacrosse
Zach Libby, CMUChippewas.com
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - Kaitlin Kimble had bragging rights two weeks ago as the lone scorer for the Central Michigan lacrosse team in its season-opening 14-1 loss at Michigan.
It was the first goal in Chippewa lacrosse history.
Putting aside the question of when a group of 25 freshman and one sophomore would score against an experience collegiate program left the other remaining topic of discussion of when the Chippewas were going to win their first game.
Those two weeks of working out the flaws brought out a more confident and more aggressive CMU team Saturday against Gardner-Webb.
Central Michigan (1-1) doubled its number of shots on goal as Kimble and six other players scored at least one goal apiece as CMU buried the Running Bulldogs, 16-4, for the historic victory.
"It's really exciting to see a young team share the ball like that," CMU coach Sara Tisdale said. "They were unselfish in their effort and also just the excitement level on offense was fun to watch, so we're definitely excited for those goal scorers, but also for the whole team effort to get those goals in the back of the net."
Sydney Wright scored four goals and added two assists to lead the Chippewas, while Jocelyne Lemay, Kimble and Summer Abdalla had three goals each. Auguste Jepsen, Logan Halvorson and Rachel Morin also scored.
Abdalla opened the scoring just 4 minutes, 6 seconds into the game off a Riley Huda assist, the first of her team-leading three. CMU poured it on with seven goals in a 9-plus minute span and led 12-0 before Gardner-Webb (0-4) finally broke through.
CMU goalkeeper Dominique Hamman saw far less activity Sunday than she did in the opener against Michigan. She finished with seven saves.
Tisdale said her team was much more clear on sliding and where to force the ball than it was in the season-opener, and the Chippewas played much better in transitioning on defense to limit the number of Gardner-Webb shots.
"Dominique (Hamman) had a great game," Tisdale said. "We're thrilled with her efforts in the last two weeks in reflection back to the Michigan game on how she improved her own game."
Turnovers continued to be an issue for the young Chippewa team as they committed over 20 for the second straight game. However, clearing saw an improvement. CMU cleared at a 79 percent rate (15-19) against Gardner-Webb after a 43-percent (7-16) mark against Michigan.
The foul margin was in CMU's favor, as it committed just 24 as opposed to 36 for Gardner-Webb.
"I think that means we're hopefully doing things the right way in practice," Tisdale said, "and we're going about this in the right way where we're a very disciplined team."
Central Michigan continues its non-conference schedule at Cincinnati on March. 6.
