MACON, Ga. – Longwood's senior duo of Sarah Butler and Katie McHugh combined for seven goals and six assists to guide Longwood women's lacrosse past Mercer, 13-7, to earn its first win of the season Friday night at Five Star Stadium.
 
In the second half, McHugh erupted for four goals and Butler scored twice as Longwood (1-3) reeled off seven straight goals at the start of the period to regain its previous lead for the remainder of the contest. The Lancers overcame a stretch of five unanswered goals from Mercer to end the first half by scoring eight and allowing just two more the rest of the way in the win.
 
"It was great to earn our first win," said Longwood head coach Elaine Jones. "We had a lull there where we lost a little focus in the first half, which allowed Mercer back into the game after we had the lead. However, the team made the necessary adjustments at halftime and really executed the gameplan we came up with for the second half."
 
After seeing its five-goal lead disappear, McHugh gave Longwood a boost with her first two goals of the game to give her team a 7-5 lead. The senior attacker create her own shot for her first goal at the 37-minute mark and then found the net a minute later off a pass from Butler.
 
Butler joined in on the second-half scoring spree with a pair of goals and an assist within a four-minute span to extend the Lancer lead to five goals with 15 minutes remaining. Longwood's leading scorer, Butler pushed her streak of three-goal performances this season to three with her 10^th score of the year at the 42-minute mark. She then connected with McHugh two minutes later for the second time, which marked the duo's third assist-to-goal connection of the day.
 
Already on a stretch of five unanswered goals, the Lancers pushed their lead to 12-5 after Charleigh Kondas added her only goal of the day, which she followed up by setting up McHugh for her fourth goal of the game, ninth of the season.
 
Longwood started the game with a string of five uncontested goals in the first half to put the team ahead 5-0. Lancers Hollyn Royster and Butler scored the first two goals off back-to-back assists from McHugh. Following goals from Shiloh McKenzie and Madison Stair, McHugh then recorded her third assist by finding freshman Stephanie Roberts at the 19-minute mark.
 
In spite of falling behind early, Mercer fought back with its own five-goal run heading into the break sparked by two goals a piece from Nawal Alami and Lindsey Zeltwanger. Following  back-to-back goals by Alami within two minutes of each other, Zeltwanger put in two unassisted goals to even the score 5-5.
 
Due in large part to great defending from Longwood, however, Mercer was never able to pull to within less than six goals. The Lancers caused 22 turnovers, 10 of which came in the second period, and held the Bears to only eight shots in the game's final 30 minutes.
 
In the final six minutes of the game, Lisa Schell iced the game for the Lancers after Butler connected with the senior attacker for her third assist of the day to give their team 13 goals on the day.
 
Sophomore Imani West made seven stops on 17 shots faced in goal for the Lancers to pick up her first career win as a starter.
 
The Lancers took advantage of the extra possessions they gained off caused turnovers as they fired off 18 second-half shots to finish with a 33 shots on the day in comparison to 17 total shots in the game by Mercer. Senior defender Shiloh McKenzie and McHugh tied for the team lead with two caused turnovers each.
 
Longwood will close out a two-game road trip  with its trip to Kennesaw, Ga., to take on Kennesaw State Sunday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m.
 
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