Led by Lauren Aksionoff and Jackie Lane, the Eagles were able to put on an offensive barrage Wednesday afternoon against Longwood, defeating the Lancers 20-8 at Jacobs Field. The win was the third-straight for AU, who finished with a 5-1 record at home this season.
While Longwood scored the first goal of the game at the 22:47 mark of the first half, the Eagles quickly responded.
Gina Ibello scored three minutes later to tie the game up at one, starting a 5-0 run for the Eagles that saw the AU lead 5-1 at the 10:40 mark of the half.
Longwood would go on a scoring run of their own, tallying three straight goals over a one-minute stretch to climb to within one, 5-4.
This would be as close as the Lancers would get, as the Eagles scored three of the last four goals of the half to take an 8-5 lead into the break. Lane would score two of her game-high five goals during this run, an aspect that was key to winning the match according to Coach Katie Woods.
"They [Aksionoff and Lane] looked to a lot to put the ball away, which they did during this game," Woods said.
The Eagles came out of halftime red-hot, turning a close game into a run-away only minutes into the second-half.
Brittany Finnegan's goal only 1:15 into the half opened the floodgates, initiating a 9-1 run that saw the Eagles increase the margin from 9-5 to 17-6. Aksionoff's three goals in as many minutes, along with multiple tallies by Caithlin Gorman, helped the Eagles put the game out of reach.
Maeve Koch's first goal of the season with 26 seconds remaining in the game was the final nail in the coffin as the Eagles ended with a 20-9 victory.
Aksionoff's five goals on the afternoon lead all scorers Lane, Gorman, and Ibello also had multigoal efforts for AU. Overall, ten different Eagles found the back of the net, much to the delight of Coach Woods.
"We really started playing together as a team on the attack, which is something we need to continue to do in order to be successful," Woods said.
The Eagles have two more games remaining in the regular season before preparing for the Patriot League Tournament. The team faces Lehigh on Saturday in the final PL game of the year before playing at Drexel next Tuesday for its regular season finale.
