Lacrosse shakes off cold start to blow by Vermont

By Dalton Ray–

In the season opener, the women’s lacrosse team defeated Vermont 19-8.

Sophomores Meghan Siverson and McKayla Conti led the way for the Cards in their first career starts. Conti scored six goals while Siverson had five. Seniors Heidi Smith and Hannah Koloski both added hat-tricks.

Coach Kellie Young said this game could have ended differently.

“We had two moments where we could have broken down but we did what we call ‘surfed.’ We worked through the emotion and got back on track,” Young said.

Conti kicked off the scoring but that didn’t phase the Catamounts. Vermont bounced back by taking a 4-2 lead 10 minutes into the game.

For the remainder of the half, it was all Cardinals.

Starting with Conti scoring her second goal, Louisville scored six unanswered goals. At the half, Louisville held a 8-4 lead. The Cardinals out-shot Vermont 25-7 in the opening half.

Smith netted her 14th career goal 12 seconds in the second half. The Catamounts scored three unanswered goals, cutting to Louisville lead to 9-7.

A seven-minute scoring drought followed the burst of goals by Vermont. U of L ended the final 15 minutes on a 9-1 scoring run.

The Cardinals travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take on Marquette Feb. 10.