READING, Pa. – The Albright women's lacrosse team claimed their first MAC Commonwealth win with a dominant 21-3 victory over Eastern at Shirk Stadium on Wednesday.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 1-4 in conference and 3-11 overall. Meanwhile, the Eagles drop to 0-6 in conference and 1-12 overall.
 
It was a total team effort as Albright saw ten different goal scorers on the afternoon. Senior Lauren China led Lions offense with six points behind five goals and one assist. Senior Lexi Pitkevits posted a career-high four points on three goals and one assist and added a team-high six draw controls. Sophomore Kyra Lycett also tallied a career-high four points on three goals and one assist.
 
Eastern applied pressure early with a free-position shot in the opening minute, to which first-year goalkeeper Caelainn Morrison saved to keep the Eagles off the board. Junior Chloe Fornoff opened up the scoring in the Lions first possession with an unassisted goal at the 12:49-mark. The Eagles quickly answered less than a minute later with a free-position goal to tie the game at one. The two teams battled back and forth throughout the opening frame, but sophomore Katelyn Patrick finally broke through with just 35 second left in the first behind an assist from classmate Morgan Kopcik to give the Lions a 2-1 lead.
 
Albright began to control the pace in the second quarter as Kopcik found the back of the net at the 13:21-mark to get the Lions rolling. Patrick added a second goal just over a minute later to extend the Lions lead to 4-1. China notched her first goal of the game at the 9:38-mark while Pitkevits quickly followed with her first from the eight-meter. The Lions kept their foot on the gas netting three woman-down goals within a 39 second span, expanding their lead to 9-1 with 4:53 left in the half. Albright closed out first half with three more goals from Pitkevits, China, and senior Lenox Pinczehelyi to claim a commanding 12-1 advantage.
 
Senior Ashleigh Tortorice opened the third quarter with a goal behind a feed from Lycett. Eastern finally snapped the run with a free-position goal at the 10:23-mark, bringing the score to 13-2. Lycett got the Lions back on track with a free-position goal at the 8:13-mark. Tortorice and China added two more scores for Albright to close out the third with a 16-2 advantage.
 
Lycett and China netted back-to-back goals for the Lions to open the final stanza. Eastern notched one final goal off the eight-meter to bring the score to 18-3 at the 6:37-mark. The Lions solidified their win with three unanswered goals from Fornoff, sophomore Kayte Moist, and senior Abbie Moist to claim a dominant 21-3 MAC Commonwealth victory over Eastern.
 
Albright held a 39-20 shot advantage and a 29-11 shot on goal advantage over Eastern. The Lions also forced the Eagles into 26 turnovers and won the battle for ground balls 23-17. Draw controls were nearly split with Albright grabbing a slight 13-12 advantage. Morrison earns the win for the Lions with eight saves in 60 minutes of action. Kelly Steenstra receives the loss for the Eagles with eight saves in the full amount of action.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. as they travel to Stevenson to continue MAC Commonwealth action.