Williamsburg, KY – The second-ranked Cumberlands women's lacrosse team netted the final 16 goals of the contest, including 15 in the second half to defeat Thomas More 25-4 Monday night at the UC Lacrosse Complex. Bella Ricchiazzi etched her named into the Patriots record book, while Trinity Brown and Hannah Churchley each tallied a career-high in the win, which was the 13^th straight for the Patriots as they moved to 15-1 overall.

Ricchiazzi came into the game two points away from breaking the Patriots program record for career points and finished the game tying her career-high of eight goals as she notched 11 points in the contest.  Ricchiazzi now has tallied 385 points over her four year career, surpassing Samantha Tullar's mark of 375 points.  Brown tied her career-high with 14 draw controls, four caused turnovers, and three ground balls.  Those 14 draw controls are third most for a single game, while the junior has the second most draw controls for a season at 133.   Churchley scooped a career-high six ground balls along with a pair of caused turnovers.

Stephanie Meyer and Rachel Leigh finished with six points apiece as Leigh won a season-high eight draw controls in the game.  A quartet of Patriots, Reegan Hensley, Carolina Johnson, Morgan Tate, and Katie Wharton recorded four points apiece.  Aleyah Belton added three caused turnovers and two points, while Olivia McCarrell made four saves in the win.

Just over a minute into the game, Churchley forced a turnover and on the ensuing possession Ricchiazzi circled from behind the cage and fired a shot just under the crossbar to put UC ahead 1-0.  A minute later, Ricchiazzi forced a Saints turnovers and put a well-placed pass for Leigh to finish to extend the lead to 2-0.  That assists made Ricchiazzi the career points leader with 11:11 left in the first quarter.  The Patriots defense continued to hold Thomas More in check tallying six caused turnovers of the final ten minutes of play, while limiting the Saints to one shot.  Ricchiazzi added her second goal before finding Katie Wharton for a one-timer to extend UC's lead to 4-0.



Johnson converted a man-up goal in the first minute of the second quarter to extend the lead to 5-0.  After a Saints goal, Meyer found a cutting Morgan Terpstra for a goal to make it 6-1 with 12:47 remaining.  The two teams traded goals three times before Erin Bryant forced a turnover and Ricchiazzi netted her fourth goal of the contest to make it 10-4 with 2:49 left.  McCarrell made three saves in the period as Cumberlands took a 10-4 edge into the break.

Cumberlands needed just 22 seconds into the third quarter to extend their lead as Brown won the draw control and Johnson found Ricchiazzi for the goal to make it 11-4.  McCarrell added a stop 20 seconds later to keep the score 11-4 before Leigh found Wharton cutting towards the cage for a goal at the 11:13 mark.  Ricchiazzi added two goals and an assists as part of a five goal run, that spanned six minutes putting the Patriots in front 17-4.  In the closing seconds of the period Johnson found Meyer for her third goal as Cumberlands took an 18-4 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Patriots continued their strong play in the fourth quarter as Tate notched an assists and a goal over the first four minutes to extend the lead to 20-4.  Brown won the next two draw controls which resulted in goals from Wharton and Hensley to make it 22-4 midway through the quarter.  Tate added assists to Leigh and Belton before Leigh connected with Reegan Hensley for a goal and the 25-4 final.

Cumberlands outshot the Saints 54-12 in the game and scooped 26 ground balls to Thomas More's 17.

The Patriots will return to the field Wednesday, April 12, in their regular season finale when they face the tenth-ranked Georgetown.  The game is set to begin at 7 p.m.

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