WLAX v Vanderbilt (12 APR 17) - Highlights
WLAX v Vanderbilt (12 APR 17) - Full Game

BOX SCORE

DENVER -- Senior Ellie Knott needed six draw controls to set a new school single-season record for the [13/13] University of Denver women's lacrosse program, and with 11 minutes remaining in the contest she did exactly that after grabbing her sixth of the day in a convincing 17-4 win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

"I felt like we finally played for 60 minutes even with a few lulls from the fatigue of a midweek game," said head coach Liza Kelly, "but credit goes to our strength coach Gary [Boros] for getting the team fired up coming out of a Vanderbilt timeout. It made a huge difference and allowed us to finish out the game."

Knott closed with six draw controls to set Denver's (11-2, 5-1 BIG EAST) new single-season record at 82. She surpassed Kiki Boone's total of 81 which was set back in the 2013 season, the year before Knott officially set foot on campus for the Crimson and Gold.

On the offensive end, senior Emily Conway and sophomore Julia Feiss paved the way as the pair tallied four points each on three goals and one assist. Sophomore Audrey Schreck added the third hat trick of her season, while junior Caitlin Derry and sophomore Kendra Lanuza added three points on two goals and a helper. Senior Molly Danko was the final Pioneer to tally multiple goals, ending with two on the day.

DU's defense was stout as ever as senior Layne Voorhees caused five turnovers against Vanderbilt (6-6, 3-3 BIG EAST), while classmates Sybil Pallace and Hunter Gray added a multi-pronged approached to the defensive effort. Pallace closed with three caused turnovers while Gray posted two of her own to go with a trio of ground balls.

Sophomore Nicki Wilkinson lent her aid on the defensive half behind two caused turnovers and two ground balls, while senior Maddy Stevenson took the win with seven saves on 12 shots faced.

Vanderbilt had two goals come from Julie Blaze, while Madison Foglio took the loss in the crease with three saves in all 60 minutes.

Both sides started off slow as neither could find an opening in the first five minutes of the contest, but Denver finally broke through the fog at 24:27 as Lanuza found a path to the crease and rifled a shot past Foglio. The goal kick-started a 4-0 DU run before the Commodores finally got on the scoreboard on a shot from Caroline Peters with 19:27 remaining.

The Pioneers' defense remained suffocating as Vanderbilt was allowed only two goals in either half while the offense spread the wealth around with seven different DU members finding the back of the net in the opening stanza.

Denver carried a 9-2 lead into the locker rooms while the `Dores struck first at the 23:57 mark of the second. The defense found another gear, however, limiting the visitors to only one goal in the final 23 minutes of the game while stringing together an 8-1 run for a 17-4 final as Danko provided the exclamation point with six seconds remaining.

DU will head out on the road at the end of the week for its first contest in school history against Villanova. Opening draw is set for 11 a.m. MT on Saturday, April 15, at Villanova Stadium.

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