Agostino-Flinn Jump Starts The Offense To Reel In Goucher Women's Lacrosse Season-Opening 11-7 Win Against Marlins

BALTIMORE, Md. – Camryn Agostino (South Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) and Emily Flinn (Ashland, Va./Patrick Henry) combined for seven goals and six assists to power Goucher College past Virginia Wesleyan 11-7 in the women's lacrosse season opener on Sunday.

The duo scored four of the first five goals for the Gophers to stake them out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. Agostino led the way with a career-high four goals along with four assists to tie a career-high with eight points. It was her fourth hat trick of her career and her 12th-multigoal performance while it was also her fourth match with two or more assists. It was the second time in her career that she has dished out a four helpers while she had a career-high six feeders against Juniata on April 23, 2019 where she also had eight points for the first time in her career.

Flinn added three tallies and two assists in the win. It was the sophomore's fourth career hat trick and eighth multigoal performance while she had two assists for the seventh time in her career.

Julia Gazzola (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) picked up right where she left off her freshman campaign in 2019 with two goals and one assist for three points along with 11 draw controls, two caused turnovers and a ground ball. Gazzola, who established a program record for draw controls in a single season with 96, recorded her fourth double-digit draw control performance of her career. She also posted her 10th multigoal performance of her career.

Thanks to Agostino and Flinn, Goucher jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. Agostino scored the first goal of the season set up by Flinn with 28:09 left in the first half before Gazzola had the feeder to Agostino for a 2-0 lead. Shannon Stull (Westminster, Md./Francis Scott Key) took pass from Abbie McHerron (Burnt Hills, N.Y./Burnt Hills) at midfield and twinkled the twine at 25:32 for a 3-0 margin. Agostino returned the favor to Flinn at 23:57 before Flinn found the back of the net unassisted at 21:09 for the five-marker advantage.

Virginia Wesleyan then scored three of the next four goals with a Gabrielle Umstead (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley) tally off a Flinn helper sprinkled in that stretch at 16:47 to cut the Gophers lead to 6-3. Agostino capped off her fourth career hat trick with an unassisted tally with 84 seconds left for a 7-3 halftime advantage.

The Marlins scored two of the first three goals to start the second half with a Flinn from Agostino tally at 22:57 sandwiched in the middle to make it a three-goal match with 19:35 left.

Goucher answered with three-straight tallies to take an 11-5 lead. Agostino had a hand in all three scores after she set up Gazzola for consecutive goals at 18:45 and 17:59 before finding the twine unassisted at 17:14 for the six-tally advantage. Virginia Wesleyan posted the final two goals of the game, but the Gophers came away with an 11-7 victory.

Lia Oren (Milwaukee, Wisc./Nicolet) paced the defense with four ground balls and three caused turnovers while Mackenzie Nase (Weare, N.H./John Stark Regional) contributed three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Stull and Delany Comerford (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) had a game-high five ground balls along with one caused turnover. McHerron had three saves in between the pipes.

The game marked the collegiate debut for Hana Jezovnik (North East, Md./North East) and Katie Carrigan (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) both made their collegiate debut in the match.

Goucher won the season opener for the first time since the 2016 season. Head coach Sarah Goodson has won the first game that she has coached the team for the second-straight year while she won her first season opener.

The Gophers return to action on February 24 at Beldon Field in the first-ever meeting against Alvernia. Game time is 4 p.m.