PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- Last night, the Kenyon College women's lacrosse team faced one of its toughest tests this season against No. 25-ranked SUNY Geneseo (1-2), but the Owls were up to the task. Playing their opening game at the annual Spring Fling tournament in Florida, Kenyon earned a hard-fought 11-10 victory to keep their record perfect at 5-0. The undefeated start to the 2023 campaign is the program's longest since 2016 when Kenyon won its first six games.

The eventual final score might have surprised some after the Owls got off to a dominant start. Kenyon took over on the first possession when Ashley Quinn converted a free position shot just 78 seconds into the game. The Owls scored four more goals over the next four minutes, building a 5-0 lead with 9:53 left in the first quarter. Caroline O'Neil accounted for two of the scores, while Tatumn Eccleston assisted Maddie Garner and Lily Mason on the others.

The nationally-ranked Knights answered with two goals one minute apart to cut the score to 5-2 with 6:03 left. However, a free position shot by Mallory Brophy with 42 seconds to go helped Kenyon keep the momentum heading into the second quarter. Ella Murphy boosted the Owls' lead to 8-2 with two solo goals over the first nine minutes of the second period, but SUNY Geneseo flipped the script from there. 

After outscoring Kenyon 3-1 over the final five minutes, including a goal with 11 seconds left before halftime, the Knights had cut the lead to 9-5. The solid finish to the second period poured over into the third when SUNY Geneseo outscored the Owls 4-1 to pull within one goal at 10-9.

Neither team gave ground in the fourth frame as the squads remained locked in a closely-contested battle for the first half of the quarter. The Knights were the first to break through, scoring at the 7:20 mark to tie the game, but the Owls answered quickly. Julia Losey won the ensuing draw control and took a quick shot that was saved, but Murphy gathered the ground ball to keep the possession alive. That allowed O'Neil, Kenyon's leading scorer, to connect on a second-chance shot and put the Owls up 11-10 with 6:21 remaining.

The game-winning shot was the last look for either team, as Kenyon kept the ball away from the Knights. SUNY Geneseo had two more possessions, but O'Neil and Eccleston caused turnovers to help the Owls clinch a win that was Kenyon's smallest margin of victory but arguably their biggest of the young season. 

O'Neil scored a game-high four goals to take the team lead with 15 this year. Garner and Murphy scored twice, while Eccleston dished out a game-high two assists to increase her team-leading total to 12. Losey (6), Garner (4), Mason (3), and Brophy (2) secured multiple draw controls to help the Owls maintain possession and compile a 17-8 edge in the center circle.

Up next, the Owls return to Publix Sports Park on Thursday, March 16, for a matchup against Marymount University (4-3) at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time (8 p.m. EST).