GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Franciscan women's lacrosse team got the 2018 season off to a hot start as the Lady Barons defeated Thiel, 16-5, Tuesday evening.

The Lady Barons won their first game of the season for the first time in program history while the Tomcats dropped to 0-2 on the young year.

After giving up a quick goal, Franciscan used a 5-0 run over just 2:42 of gameplay to take a 5-1. The run was kick-started by freshman Blair Wonderly with her first career goal and was highlighted by a pair of goals from senior Mary Krolicki. During their run, FUS won two draws, both by Krolicki, but were able to force turnovers on the three Thiel draw wins and score on their ensuing possession.

"Blair Wonderly got the attack going for us today by scoring our first goal of the game and the season," remarked sixth-year head coach Maura Conant. "She was able to add two more goals for the game."

Thiel got one goal back with 18:13 to play in the first before Franciscan scored three quick goals to take an 8-2 lead with 14:34 to play. Junior Elizabeth McEntee got the first goal of the run before helping on Krolicki's third of the game. Freshman Maria Hilkert scored her first collegiate goal to cap off the run. The Lady Barons closed out the half outscoring Thiel 2-1 over the final 12 minutes and McEntee dished out an assist on both Krolicki's and Hilkert's goals.

"I was just really proud of how the team moved the ball today, as evidenced by our number of assists," remarked Coach Conant. "Beth McEntee did a great job on the perimeter for us with five assists, and Bridget Clune made her midfield debut with first career assist."

Franciscan out-scored the Tomcats 5-2 over the first 10 minutes of the second half and Wonderly's third goal of the game triggered a running clock for the Lady Barons as FUS led 15-5. Clune handed out her first career assist on Wonderly's goal.

Franciscan put the final touches on the 16-5 win as junior Treise McCarthy scored on a free position shot with 2:08 to play.

The Franciscan defense held the Thiel offense to 28 shots and forced 28 turnovers. Junior goalie Brittany Bain tied her career-best save total with 15 as she earned her first win of the season. Bain moved to within four saves of FUS' career save total with her performance tonight.

"Our settled defense was anchored by our goalie, Brittany Bain, with her 15 saves," continued Coach Conant. "Our defense was really communicating well tonight, and that really paid off."

Franciscan won 12 of the 23 draw controls as Krolicki picked up eight, two shy of her own single-game record, and McEntee won the other three.

"Mary Krolicki and Elizabeth Jordan had chemistry on the draw, and I looking forward to continuing to improve on that the rest of the season," complimented Coach Conant.

Franciscan won the turnover battle by a slim margin, 28-26 and the two teams were even on ground balls, each team collecting 21.

"Mary Krolicki and Elizabeth Jordan had chemistry on the draw, and I looking forward to continuing to improve on that the rest of the season," said Coach Conant. "We are going to continue to work on decreasing our turnovers to capitalize on our possession."

Krolicki finished with six goals while McEntee dished out five assists, tying the single-game record at FUS which she holds, to go with her two goals.

Franciscan returns to the field on Saturday as the Lady Barons travel to near-by Washington & Jefferson for a 1:00 p.m.