CARLISLE, Pa. (February 25, 2024) – In its second game in as many days to open the new season, the No. 25 Denison University women's lacrosse team picked up its first win of the year after handing Dickinson College its first loss of the season. The Big Red outscored the Red Devils 7-1 in the fourth quarter and ultimately came out on top by a final score of 17-10 on Sunday afternoon.

Leading 10-9 heading into the fourth quarter, senior Josie Lucchesi stepped up with her fourth goal of the game in the opening minute, but Dickinson answered back by winning the ensuing draw control and scoring to make it 11-10 with exactly 13 minutes left to play.

From there, the Big Red gave the Red Devils some of their own medicine as sophomore Mary Martinson won the ensuing draw control and scored herself nearly a minute later to make it a 12-10 Denison advantage with 12:05 on the clock.

Nearly seven minutes melted away before the next goal as after a pair of saves by Denison freshman Julianne Henigan, senior Maddie Morrell scored her third goal of the game to give the Big Red some breathing room up 13-10 with just over five minutes left.

Martinson again won the next draw control as Morrell all but slammed the door shot on the Red Devils with another goal just 25 seconds later, and then another draw control for Martinson led to the first-career goal for freshman Addie Clift to make it 15-10 on an assist by Morrell with under four minutes remaining.

In all, Denison scored the final six goals of the game while Martinson won five draw controls in the final period. Martinson would ultimately finish with a game-high eight draw controls and a team-best three groundballs while also adding two goals.

After finishing with four goals and five points against Dickinson, Morrell leads the Big Red with eight goals through the first two games of her senior season. Sophomore Bridget Sheehy (2 goals, 3 assists) matched Morrell with five points while leading the way against the Red Devils was Lucchesi (5 goals, 2 assists) with seven points.

In addition, with her final goal of the day in the final minute and a half of the game, Lucchesi tallied the 100th goal of her career.

Senior Ashley Viglione added three assists as well while freshman Grace Schlossberg had two caused turnovers.

In goal, Henigan made four saves and allowed just one goal for a .800 save percentage after entering the game with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Earlier in the game it was a back-and-forth affair as Denison scored the final five goals of the first quarter to take a 5-1 lead after the opening period, but Dickinson answered back to outscore the Big Red 5-0 in the second quarter and take a 6-5 lead at halftime.

Then down 7-5 early in the third quarter, Lucchesi scored her third goal of the game at the 11:13 mark to start a 4-0 Denison run to retake the lead at 9-7 after a goal by Sheehy with 5:25 left in the period.

Dickinson, however, scored two of the final three goals of the third quarter to make it just a one-score game (10-9) heading into the fourth quarter.

After being outshot 13-2 in the second quarter, Denison outshot Dickinson 11-7 in each of the next two periods.

Each of the Big Red's last three games against the Red Devils have come on the road as Denison (1-1 overall) handed Dickinson (2-1) its first loss of the season and avenged a 13-12 loss against the Red Devils last season. The year before that, the Big Red's 17-11 win at Dickinson was not only good for Denison's first win of the 2022 season, but was also Amanda Daniels' 100th career win as the head coach of the Big Red.

Next weekend will see Denison continue a stretch of four straight road games to open the season as the Big Red head to Salem, Virginia, to battle No. 16 nationally-ranked Roanoke College starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 2.