Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team cruised to a 16-0 season opening win over Cedar Crest on Wednesday evening. The Knights featured 10 different goal scorers as they won the season opener for the second straight season and recorded the program's second ever shutout.
 
Mount Saint Mary struck quickly on Wednesday, getting on the board 28 seconds into the tilt when Shannon McGuinness (Oceanside, N.Y.) scored the first of three goals in the game. She added two more in the first six minutes of the game, as the Knights scored seven times over the first 10 minutes of play.
 
McGuinness finished the first half with three goals and an assist, with classmate Claire Duffy (Monroe, N.Y.) adding a goal and a helper for the Knights. Jen Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) scored twice in the opening 30 minutes and Katie Gattoni (Old Tappan, N.J.) finished the first half with a marker and a pair of assists.
 
The Knights dominated play in the first half, holding a 26-0 edge in shots at halftime, including a 22-0 advantage in shots on goal. The Knights picked up 23 groundballs in the opening stanza and won 10 of the 13 draw controls taken.
 
Mount Saint Mary tacked on four more goals after halftime on Wednesday with freshman Maggie Pedersen (Glasco, N.Y.) and Gattoni each finding the back of the net twice in the second period. All four second half goals for the Mount went unassisted.
 
Gattoni, McGuinness and Pedersen each finished the game with three goals each for the Knights with Gattoni leading the team in the game with five points. McGuinness finished the game with a team-high five draw controls to go along with four groundballs and Pederson totaled four draw controls
 
Morgan Cordes (Sound Beach, N.Y.) led Mount Saint Mary with six groundballs in the game and joined Duffy with a pair of caused turnovers in the contest. Kathleen McGinnis (Shelton, Conn.) rounded out the day with a pair of draw controls and three groundballs.
 
Freshman Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) picked up the win in goal for Mount Saint Mary in her collegiate debut without having to make a save. Cedar Crest goalie, Nicole Rivera, stopped 10 shots in the loss.
 
Overall, Mount Saint Mary held a 32-1 advantage in shots, a 28-10 edge in groundballs and a 14-4 advantage in draw controls. Mount Saint Mary finished the game a perfect 5-for-5 in clearing attempts.
 
At 1-0 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Kean. Opening Draw with the Cougars is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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