READING, Pa. – The Albright women's lacrosse team picked up a 13-9 victory over DeSales in their 2021 season opener at Shirk Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
Playing their first game in 360 days, the Lions registered their first opening game win since the 2018 season.
 
DeSales started strong as they scored the first three goals in a span of 2:46 to take the early advantage. Junior Maddie Taylor got the Lions on the board at the 25:46-mark off a pass from classmate Taylor Filmer to make it 3-1, and was followed by Lauren China just 37 seconds later to bring the score to 3-2. The Bulldogs continued their strong start with a goal following a Lions yellow card to extend its lead to 4-2 at the 23:38-mark of the first half. Junior Abbie Moist notched her first goal of the season at the 18:52-mark to cut the deficit down to 4-3 before Taylor tied the game at 4 just over 10 minutes later. Taylor struck again for a third time  at the 6:31-mark following a DeSales goal on a feed from Moist as they teams continued to trade goals with the first half winding down. The Bulldogs went back up 6-5 on a free position shot at the 2:29-mark, but the lead did not last long as China tied the game at six with four seconds left in the first half.  The Bulldogs turned it over following a free position attempt and China was able to beat the clock for her second goal of the half.
 
Albright took its first lead of the game at the 28:32-mark of the second half when Moist found junior Ashleigh Tortorice in front of the net to make it 7-6. The Bulldogs took advantage of a Lions turnover to tie the game at seven at the 25:58-mark, but Albright took the lead back just 49 seconds later on the first collegiate goal for first-year Katelyn Patrick. DeSales countered again just over a minute later to tie the game back up at eight, but yet again the Lions had an answer as sophomore Chloe Fornoff scored her first goal of the season at the 20:29-mark. Following just over a 10-minute goal drought from both teams, Taylor extended the Lions lead to 10-8 at the 10:22-mark after Filmer found her again in front of the net. Albright began to gain momentum defensively by continuing to hold the Bulldogs off the board, and the offense took advantage as China notched her third goal of the game at the 7:58-mark to make it 11-8.  The Lions put the finishing touches on the season opening win with goals from China and Filmer within a 52-second span. Albright's defense held the Bulldogs without a goal for a stretch of 22:48 in the second half.
 
The Lions held a sizable 43-19 shot advantage for the game and a 33-15 advantage in shots on goal. Albright also held advantage in ground balls at 29-20 and draw control wins at 13-9, while forcing 28 Bulldog turnovers on the afternoon. Senior goalkeeper Terae Mason earned the win after making six saves in the full 60 minutes, while Rachel Shuebrooks suffered the tough loss despite making 20 saves. Taylor and China each tallied four goals for the Lions, and Taylor won a game-high seven draw controls. Moist and Filmer both totaled three points off one goal and two assists.
 
Albright will return to action on Saturday, March 13^th when they will travel to face Misericordia at 1 p.m. in MAC crossover play.