DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's lacrosse team took an early seven-goal lead over Notre Dame of Maryland and never looked back going on to defeat the Gators 20-5 on a rainy Wednesday night at Robert A. Lipinski Field.
 
Ashley Birmingham started things off for DelVal with back-to-back solo goals in the first two minutes to put the Aggies ahead indefinitely. A turnover a minute later put the Gators in scoring position cutting the deficit to one, 2-1, but a ground ball pickup by Samantha Curry off the draw found its way into the stick of Anna Kimbel to start the Aggies on a six-goal streak. Birmingham, Kyra McKeegan, Susan Rawding Leilani Eckert and Alyssa Rudd all found the back of the net over the eight-minute stretch. The Gators ended the frame with a goal to bring DelVal's lead down to six, 8-2.
 
Notre Dame of Maryland won the opening draw of the second frame, but quickly turned it over leaving Birmingham to rip a shot just wide of the net. Kyra McKeegan regained possession for the Aggies and found the back of the net to start a 5-0 run. A minute later, Rawding secured two consecutive goals in just a 30 second span to expand the lead to 11-2. A scoreless six minutes ensued before Birmingham and Kimbel capped off the Aggies 5-0 run to make it a 13-2 game with 4:19 left in the half. DelVal gave up a single goal at the 2:42 mark but kept the Gators scoreless to maintain a 10-goal lead at the half.
 
The Aggies controlled the third frame outscoring the Gators 5-0 through the 15 minutes. Kimbel started things off with a man-down goal followed nearly a minute later by Rawding assisted by McKeegan for the 12-goal lead, 15-3. A turnover from the Gators was scooped up by Kimbel and cleared into the Gators' defensive zone where she passed it off to Rawding for her fifth goal of the game. Rawding's scoring streak continued at the 6:05 mark when a give and go with McKeegan resulted in another goal to make it a 17-3 game. Eckert rounded out the scoring in the quarter for the Aggies collecting the wide shot from Rawding for the conversion to put DelVal up by 15, 18-3.
 
The teams traded goals in the final frame putting up two apiece. The duo of Rawding and McKeegan got right back to it finding the back of the net just 1:16 into the frame for the 19-3 lead. Just over a minute later the Gators broke their scoreless streak sneaking one past Emily Drake to cut the deficit back down to 15, 19-4. Samantha McCurry scored the final goal for the Aggies picking up the ground ball off the wide shot from the Gators and running it down for the conversion to put DelVal ahead 20-4. The Gators secured the last goal of the contest to put the final score at 20-5.
 
Rawding led the Aggies with seven goals and nine shots. McCurry scooped up a team-high seven ground balls while Birmingham secured three draws. Drake played all 60 minutes in the net recording 15 saves on 20 shots faced.
 
DelVal returns to action this Saturday, Apr. 6 for a conference showdown against DeSales at 12 p.m.