KENNESAW, Ga. – Although the Presbyterian College lacrosse team was able to systematically cut into an early advantage thanks to a six-score 3^rd period on Thursday evening, a 7-0 spurt from Kennesaw State put the contest out of reach to land on a final tally of 22-12.

The Owls never trailed on their way to an 11-4 cushion with the outing halfway through, responding to PC's trimming by surging ahead in the last 15 minutes to get the separation they desired.

Presby didn't go down quietly in their first road encounter of 2024, shrinking the deficit to as little as four with less than 90 seconds to go in the 3^rd courtesy of preseason All-Big South honoree Willow Hammond.

Unfortunately for head coach Eric Clakeley's group, that spawned the aforementioned avalanche to bring the Owls to 2-0 and the Blue Hose to the opposite end of that coin in the campaign's infant stages.

Staying on the road for their next feature, Presbyterian will visit Xavier in 10 days after the Musketeers came to Clinton one year ago. That meeting in Ohio is scheduled for noon in the team's third and final affair over the month of February.

 
NOTABLES
 
- Five different players for Clakeley's club put up at least two scores in Thursday's trip, none more than fifth-year star Abby Edmisten who climbed to a trio. It's the 21^st time in an extraordinary career that the Georgia native grabbed at least three goals in a sole outing.

- Kylie Sullivan, Kaylie Rittmueller, and Hammond added a couple of successful swings each to PC's tally, while the tandem of Alyssa Perez and Lauren Gray recorder their first scores in a Presbyterian uniform while coming off the bench.

- Presby's back line forced KSU into 16 turnovers while only coughing the ball up 10 times themselves, completing 12 of their 17 clear attempts and converting four out of nine free-position opportunities.

- Naomi Lauderbaugh and Kayleigh Aitken shared goalkeeping duties for the second straight time in a game that trended heavily towards offense, witnessing a combined 68 shot tries from the two opposing sides.

- Kennesaw was able grab a slight edge in draw controls, winning in that department by six (21-15). Both teams were virtually identical in ground ball recoveries (14-13).

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
- Perez opened up PC's scoring with just over six minutes gone, evening the odds only for the Owls to assume a 5-1 advantage after the opening stanza.

- Both of Sullivan's connections occurred in the 2^nd frame, the second of which brought the lead down to 10-4 with 3:30 until the break. However, a Kennesaw answer only 16 seconds later pushed the halftime differential to seven.

- Edmisten, Hammond, and Rittmueller catapulted the Blue Hose to a 3-0 boost after coming back onto the field in the 3^rd, although three of the next four strikes came from the home squad to keep the Blue Hose at bay.

- Hammond and Edmisten – the same duo that combined for 80 goals and 27 assists last spring – kept Presbyterian within a smaller gap thanks to consecutive scores in the last 3:50 of the 3^rd, although sparking the 7-0 run from the Owls that followed.

 
UP NEXT
 
- PC's stay in Cincinnati on the 25^th will feature two units that battled to an intense 14-11 result in 2023, tipping in the Musketeers' favor on that day inside Bailey Memorial Stadium. Heading into the weekend, Xavier holds the same 0-2 mark as PC (although hosting their third foe of the spring on Saturday in the form of Radford).

- Xavier was bested at the hands of Arizona State and San Diego State by 11 and 10 goals respectively, moving to a final record of 4-10 in the program's first-ever season last year.