Elon WLAX: Asher’s Career Day Lifts No. 14 Elon by Davidson 15-7

ELON, N.C. – For the third time in her career, Stephanie Asher scored six goals in a game to lead No. 14 Elon University women’s lacrosse to a 15-7 victory over Davidson on Sunday afternoon, March 26, at Rudd Field.

The win improves Elon’s program-best start to 8-2 through 10 games. Davidson dropped to 2-5 with the loss. Elon has now won six of its first seven home games of the season and three in a row at Rudd Field dating back to March 8 against Vanderbilt.

Asher’s six-goal performance marks the most an Elon player has scored in a game this season and is just the fifth time in program history a player has scored at least six goals in a game. The junior also added two assists to bring her total to eight points, which ties her eight-point performance on Feb. 14, 2016, against Longwood for the second-most points in a game in program history. Asher already holds the record for most points in a game with nine back on Feb. 22, 2015, at Stetson.

Nicole Sinacori added four goals of her own in the victory while Anna Vitton scored twice and had an assist. Shannon Horan, Kelsey Dupere and Jacie Cooper each added a goal and an assist on the afternoon. Three players each picked up three ground balls with Horan and Cooper leading the team with three draw controls. Abby Godfrey led Elon with four caused turnovers.

Annie Brockett and Jordan Wood each tallied twice to pace Davidson. Nicole Pettiglio had a strong day on restarts with seven draw controls while Shannon Blee had four caused turnovers. Goalie Rose Woolson led the Wildcats with four ground balls to go with 12 saves in the cage.

The Rundown
Davidson opened the afternoon with a goal less than three minutes in from Brockett, but the Phoenix answered two minutes later when Horan got Elon on the board and started a 7-1 run that saw the Phoenix go up 7-2 less than 17 minutes into the game.

After Davidson ended the run with a goal by Sarah Kopp with 6:26 left in the first half, Sinacori scored twice in the final 3:12 of the frame to help the Phoenix to a 9-3 halftime lead.

Sinacori opened the second half with her third consecutive goal less than two minutes into the frame, which keyed a 6-1 run to open the half that gave Elon a 15-4 lead with 13:57 to play. Down the stretch, Davidson scored three times in the final 7:35, but Elon’s lead was insurmountable with the Wildcats only able to cut the deficit back to eight.

Next Up
The Phoenix will close nonconference play on Wednesday, March 29, at 6 p.m. when it welcomes Duke to Rudd Field. Last year, Elon traveled to Durham and took down the nationally-ranked Blue Devils 7-6 for the program’s first win over a ranked team. Currently, Duke is ranked No. 17 in the IWLCA Coaches poll and is receiving votes in the Cascade/Inside Lacrosse Media poll.