WINCHESTER, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's lacrosse team opened up its 2021 season with a 18-15 loss to No. 7 Salisbury University in a non-league contest on Saturday afternoon.
 
Salisbury (1-0) never trailed, but Shenandoah (0-1) kept within striking distance throughout the 60-minute contest.
 

IN BRIEF

 
After giving up the initial two goals, the Hornets stormed back to tie it at 2-2 thanks to Emma Stiffler and Reilly Cisar goals at 25:01 and 24:24, respectively.
 
Salisbury, however, would go on two different scoring runs to make it a 9-4 game with 8:46 to go in the first half. This would be the Gulls largest lead of the contest.
 
SU got as close as one, 15-14, following a Cisar tally at 15:59. This goal capped a 3-0 run for the Hornets that included inital goals from Alyson Bittinger and Kathleen Donovan.
 
Unfortunately for the Shentel Stadium fans, the Sea Gulls pulled away with three of the game's final four goals.
 
Bittinger led the hosts with six goals and one assist while Cisar had five goals and two assists. Stiffler had a team-high three assists.
 
Goalie Ashley MacFarlane made 10 stops against the national powerhouse. 
 
Salisbury outshot Shenandoah, 36-29, and had a 24-16 advantage in groundballs. SU was 1 of 7 from the 8-meter arc.
 

QUOTABLE

"It was great to compete after a year off," head coach Lindsey Lutz said. "We are incredibly thankful to everyone that made it happen from the university administration to sports medicine and game management. To be competitive with a national powerhouse like Salisbury is a great step for the program and I am excited to see what the future holds. I can't wait to build on this to see more success in the future." 
 

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