WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Southern New Hampshire University women's lacrosse team dropped its season opener Sunday evening in Winter Park, Florida by a score of 16-8 to No. 8 Rollins. The Penmen are now 0-1, while the Tars improve to 3-1.

Rollins jumped out with an early lead, scoring just 1:13 into first half to go up 1-0. The Tars then scored the next four goals to take a 5-0 lead. Alexa Allen (East Longmeadow, Mass.) answered for the Penmen with her first goal of the season to cut the deficit to four, but the hosts scored back-to-back to regain their lead at 7-1. SNHU scored the final goals of the half, as rookie Casey Duggan (Framingham, Mass.) and Ellie Morin (Scarborough, Maine) notched scores in the final minutes to make it 7-3 going into the second half.

The Penmen seemed to come out of the gates with momentum as Emily King (Florence, Mass.) scored in the first minute of the second half to cut the lead to three at 7-4, but the Tars scored the next seven to take a 14-4 lead. SNHU answered again with a pair of Lindsey Bucknam (Bow, N.H.) goals, and closed out the half trading the next four goals with Rollins.

Maria Ploof (Middlebury, Vt.) played a complete game for SNHU in net, making eight saves, four in each half. Elyse De Lisle turned away 12 shots for the Tars.

The Penmen return to action on Tuesday, March 4 when they travel to Saint Leo to complete play in Florida with a 7:00 p.m. game.

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