by Mackenzie McMahon

The Hope College women's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 with the dominating take down of Carroll University (WI) on Saturday. The 21-6 win at home had eleven different scorers. 

"I think that's the best thing about this year, even when we throw our freshman in, and we had them all in today at one point, just being able to trust them with the ball and throw those passes and continue to just feed them with confidence, I think that's huge for us" head coach Keagan Pontious said of Saturday's win. 

The Flying Dutch began the game with six unanswered goals before Carroll finished out the first quarter with two goals of their own. Freshman Kerrigan Brown (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt HS) started the scoring at the 14:46 mark, and sophomore Elena Salasza (Howell, Michigan / Hartland)r finished the goal streak at the 2:12 mark. Madison McCreey and Salaszar put in goal two and three just ten seconds apart, both unassisted goals. Salazar would grab her second of the game two minutes later. Johannah Cummings (Fenton, Michigan / Hartland) tallied the orange and blue's fifth goal, while Salaszar found another, her third, shortly after. McCreery, pictured right, would get the helper on Salaszar's second goal, and Sophie Ackerman grabbed assists on the Brown and third Salaszar goals. 

Nine goals were scored in the second quarter, Hope tallying six of those. McCreery at the 12:25 mark would begin the flurry of scoring. The senior from Rockford, Michigan (Rockford) would pick up her third goal of the game three minutes later, but not before Carroll would sneak in their third goal of the game for a 8-3 score. Sophomore Kristen Szost (Jenison, Michigan / Jenison International Academy) joined the scoresheet with her own goal seconds after the third McCreery goal, and sophomore Molly Frederickson (Jenison, Michigan / Jenison International Academy) would find her first point of the game just another minute later to make it 10-3, Hope. Carroll found the back of the net at the 6:32 mark and the 5:39 mark of the second quarter. Freshmen Bella Lafranca (Caledonia, Michigan / Caledonia) and Juli Kirkpatrick (Granger, Indiana / Penn) quickly responded to each of those Carroll goals, and at the half, Hope led 12-5. 

During the third and fourth quarter, the Flying Dutch would hold Carroll University to just a single goal, compared to their nine in the second half of the game. From 11:36 in the third quarter to 5:43, senior Madison Micho (2), Ackerman, Lafranca and McCreery would all find open net. Three of those coming in less than a one minute span. Carroll put in their sixth and final goal with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Ackerman collected three assist on the Mcreery second goal, the Micho (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids) second goal, and the Lafranca goal. 

"I think that Sophie is patient, she's our quarterback and she's patient when we need her to be and takes risks when we need her to, so our fast break is awesome because we always make that next pass, and she's usually making that pass for someone to score the goal, that's why she's a stud at what she does," said Pontious of Ackerman who had seven assists against Carroll. 

The fourth quarter saw four goals for Hope College as Brown, Cummings, Kirkpatrick and Ruthie Anderson would record scores. Cummings would also find an assist on the Kirkpatrick goal to end the game, 21-6. Sophomore Maddie Yakes and freshman Liz Kelley both saw time in net for the Flying Dutch. Yakes, a Rockford, Michigan (Rockford) native had three saves and eight shots, while Kelley (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton) had three saves and four shots. 

Hope College finished their second win with eight players recording a multi-point game, with Ackerman (1g, 7a), and McCreey (4g, 2a) leading the way. 

The Flying Dutch take the field again on Wednesday, March 2 as they travel to Aquinas for 5:00 p.m. game.