ALLENTOWN (PA)--- Kyra McKeegan scored a career-high five goals and added five assists while Susan Rawding tallied a career-best five goals, all in the second half, to earn Delaware Valley University head women's lacrosse coach Lisa Clark her first career victory in a 19-13 triumph at Cedar Crest College.
Clark took the helm after the 2021 campaign and became the second head coach in program history. With a track record for success a the high school and club coaching level, Clark is in her first seaon at the collegiate ranks.
The Aggie offense shined tonight as McKeegan's five assists tied a school record for most assists in a game, a mark that was achieved on two previous occasions - first in 2016, by Taylor Teliszewski, and again in 2018 by Claire Gamache. McKeegan's 10 points were one shy of Gamache's program record of 11 set in 2019.
After a scoreless seven-plus minutes to start the game, the Aggies (1-4) got on the board first with a goal from Gabby Borst. After a Cedar Crest (0-2) goal, Kiara Haywood-Rivera took the lead back at 2-1. With the score tied at 2-2, Kyra McKeegan, Ashley Birmingham and Jaden Keefer each netted a goal to give the Aggies a 5-2 lead after the first.
In the second, McKeegan scored just 1:10 in and Haywood-Rivera's second goal of the game capped a 5-0 burst from the Aggies as they led 7-2. After back-to-back goals from the Falcons trimmed the lead to 7-4, McKeegan scored her third and fourth goals of the game, the latter coming with ten seconds left in the half, giving DelVal a 9-4 advantage heading into the break.
Susan Rawding entered the scoring column for the Aggies as their sixth goal scorer of the game with a tally 24 seconds into the third. Just 22 seconds later, Keefer found the back of the net to extend the lead to 11-5. That was the start of a busy third period, as DelVal won the frame 7-5 to lead 16-9 heading to the fourth, with Rawding tacking on three more goals in the period.
Rawding's fifth goal came just under three minutes into the fourth off a McKeegan pass, her fifth and final assist of the game. McKeegan finished off her impressive night with her fifth goal with 9:51 left in the game.
Jaden Keefer added two goals and three assists for DelVal while Kiara Haywood-Rivera netted three goals with an asssit. Ashley Birmingham and Gabby Borst each scored twice with one assist.
The Aggies broke a program record by winning 25 draw controls in the game, breaking their previous high of 23 set in 2017 against Wilkes.
Ashley Birmingham won 18 draw controls, shattering the previous individual high of 13 draw controls won in a game.
The Aggies will be back in action Saturday, March 26th against New England College at home at 12 p.m.
