Women's Lacrosse | 3/13/2014 6:37:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Ferrum outscored Methodist, 7-2, in the second half to pull away with a 15-7 win over the Monarchs on Thursday afternoon in women's lacrosse action at Monarch Stadium.
 
The Panthers (6-3, 4-1 USA South) scored the first four goals of the second half to turn an 8-5 lead at intermission, into a 12-5 edge with 21:34 to play. Courtney Hamm opened the scoring for FC with a goal at 26:27 of the second half for a 9-5 lead. Fifty seconds later, Shannon Brown pushed the Panthers' lead to 10-5, and Lauren Blankenship's unassisted tally at the 23:35 mark gave Ferrum an 11-5 lead.  Hamm added a free position goal at the 21:34 mark to cap FC's 4-0 run to open the second half.
 
Cassie Walter broke MU's (3-7, 1-2 USA South) dry spell with a free position goal of her own to pull the Monarchs within 12-6 by the 11:02 mark, but Blankenship strung together three consecutive goals in under three minutes, and FC built its lead to nine goals (15-6) with 4:37 to play. Walter capped the day's scoring with an unassisted tally at the 1:37 mark.
 
Ferrum's dominant second half came after an evenly-played first half that saw MU and FC trade goals for the better part of 18 minutes. Brown gave FC an early 1-0 lead just 52 seconds into the contest, but Jessie Earp answered for MU, tying the game at 1-1 at the 26:47 mark. Sydney Hewartson scored off a feed from Hamm to make it 2-1 in favor of Ferrum with 19:50 on the clock before Bianca Terenzi tied things up for Methodist with a free position goal at 15:30.
 
Caila Cummings put Ferrum ahead once again (3-2) with an unassisted goal 20 seconds after Terenzi's score, but Zhane Ruffin's free position goal with 12:14 on the clock pulled MU even once again at 3-3. From there, Hamm, Brown and Blankenship each scored in a span of less than two minutes, and Ferrum's lead reached 6-3 before Hope Motahari netted a goal at 4:41 to make it 6-4. Two more scores by the Panthers gave them an 8-4 lead late in the first half, but Walter scored with just three seconds remaining to make it an 8-5 game at halftime.
 
For the game, Ferrum outshot MU, 34-19, and picked up 26 ground balls to 21 for the Monarchs. The Panthers converted on just 1-of-5 free position shots, while MU made good on 4-of-6 attempts. Ashley Cannon made 10 saves in goal for the Monarchs, while FC's Amanda Cheney had seven.
 
Walter led MU with three goals, while Motahari, Earp, Ruffin and Terenzi all netted one. Ashlea Weems had a team-best six ground balls, and Motahari finished with five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Oriana Clayton, Ruffin, Sareena Coleman and Madison Antor each had a pair of draw controls for Methodist.
 
Blankenship led the Ferrum offense with five goals and an assist, while also picking up a game-high nine ground balls. Brown and Hamm each had four goals, and Hewartson finished with a goal and three assists. Brown also chipped in five ground balls, and Caila Cummings had nine draw controls.
 
Methodist is in action on Saturday when it hosts Transylvania at 1:30 pm.