LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Otterbein women's lacrosse team used a big first half to blitz host Transylvania in its season opener Saturday afternoon, ultimately topping the Pioneers 14-5 to give head coach Brooke Delara a nice victory in her college coaching debut.

The Cardinals beat Transy for a third-straight time as a result, albeit with a much more comfortable gap than last year's narrow 7-6 finish in Westerville.

HOW IT WENT DOWN:

• Both sides traded goals early before a score from senior Carli Rigel gave Otterbein a 2-1 lead nearing the end of the first quarter.
   
• That netter began a lopsided 9-0 run for the Cardinals bridging into the next half, as the group kept the energy to register all five goals scored in the second quarter. Included in the stretch was a man-down goal by Rigel sandwiched between a pair of man-up goals from sophomore Ava Robey.
   
• Transylvania eventually stopped the bleeding with consecutive goals to end the third and then commence the fourth.
   
• Otterbein, however, kicked right back into gear with three goals over the next six-ish minutes to effectively put the game away.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Robey notched career-highs with five goals and seven points to lead all scorers. She registered that damage on nine shots.
   
• Rigel (five points) and newcomer Alyssa Glenn recorded hat tricks to benefit the attack, finishing with a 35-23 shot advantage.
   
• Junior goalie Maggie Nance picked up right where she left off last season, standing tall in the cage to make 16 stops.
   
• Otterbein was a perfect 25 of 25 on clear attempts.

COACH'S COMMENTS:

"This was just an awesome team win because everyone contributed. Maggie had a standout game in the cage and stopped everything, Alyssa debuted with a hat trick and Ava took over everywhere – from the draw circle, to scoring, to assisting. We are excited to keep growing!" - Brooke Delara

UP NEXT:

The Cardinals will get back on the road middle of next week, heading up to play Oberlin College for an afternoon start at 4 p.m.