GAMBIER, Ohio – After going 1-2 in New Jersey during the team's spring break slate, the Kenyon College women's lacrosse team returned home on Friday evening to The Field at Benson Bowl to take on Hope College. 

Although the Flying Dutch had several runs throughout the game to keep themselves in it, the Owls offense took care of business down the stretch and the defense held up in the end to secure the 16-13 win. 

Hope (2-3) kicked off the scoring on the afternoon, netting two out of the game's first three goals. Spencer Kirsch captured the first score of the day for Kenyon, who trailed 2-1 after the game's first five minutes. 

The next 10 minutes of gameplay belonged to Kenyon (3-4), who rattled off a 7-0 run to take an 8-2 lead into the second quarter with 5:15 to play in the half. 

Lily Mason and Ella Baxter each scored twice in the run, while Kirsch added another followed by Alex Tiatia and Zoe Williams to open up the biggest lead of the half. 

The visitors stormed back with a nice run of their own to end the half, scoring four times in just over 90 seconds to set the score 8-6 after 30 minutes. 

The Owls returned to form in the third quarter with a 6-1 run to open up the biggest lead of the game at 14-7 with 6:29 in the third quarter. Mason added two more followed by a pair of goals from Charlotte Skelly, and one each from Blythe Karras and Ella Rigoli. 

Similarly to the first half, Hope rallied back to keep themselves in the mix, adding a 4-1 run to cut the Kenyon lead to 15-11 as Baxter added the lone goal for the Owls. 

Zoe Williams filed away the team's 16th and final goal of the game with 4:35 to play, marking its second highest offensive output of 2025. The Flying Dutch scored twice more before the final horn sounded, but it wasn't enough to catch Kenyon, who took the game 16-13 in the end. 

Mason led the way with four goals, a season high for the junior. Matching Mason in points was Baxter, who tabbed a career-high three goals and an assist for four points. Kirsch, Skelly, and Karras were not far behind with three points apiece. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Mason again headlined the stat sheet with three caused turnovers and added three ground balls. Emma Sage added two more caused turnovers and led the way with four ground balls, while Nola Garand made 13 saves. 

The Owls will remain in Gambier for their next contest on Friday, March 21 against the University of Mary Washington at 4:00 pm from The Field at Benson Bowl.