WINCHESTER, Va. - The SU women's lacrosse team advanced to its first ever Dixie Tournament semi-final with a 23-9 victory over Ferrum College Tuesday afternoon.

No. 4 Shenandoah (6-5) broke open a 4-4 game with seven goals in a span of 7:41 midway through the first half; SU eventually expanded this lead to 13-5 by halftime.

It seemed as if the host Hornets would have little trouble with fifth seeded Ferrum (2-8), but the Lady Panthers erased a 4-1 deficit with three unanswered goals from the 25:09 to 21:43 marks of the first.

At this point, SU took timeout to regroup and came out on all cylinders. Freshman Lauren Prentice (Westminister, Md./Liberty) had four goals in this run while Sharon Sparwasser (Baltimore, Md./Kenwood) and Aicha Lahlou (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) had one goal each.

After FC finally halted the string on Ginni Matern's free position goal with 9:32 left, Sparwasser tallied twice more in the final 4:09 of the period to send the hosts into the lockerroom with the eight goal lead.

The second half brought out more of the same as Shenandoah moved ahead by a 10 goal margin by scoring five of the first seven goals coming out of the break.

The Hornets outshot Ferrum 58-14 and scooped up 45 groundballs to the Panthers 17. SU also held a 23-11 advantage in draw controls.

Senior Christine LaTouche (Elkton, Va./Spotswood) and Prentice led the hosts with six goals each while Joia Davis (Trenton, NJ/Stuart County) had five and Sparwasser four.

Carrie Conques had five goals and Matern two for the Lady Panthers.

A complete box score and play by play for this game can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/wlax/2003/041503.htm

Shenandoah now moves on to take on No. 1 seed Greensboro in the tournament semi-finals Friday afternoon at Methodist College.