GRANVILLE, Ohio (March 30, 2024) – Playing in its final game before the start of North Coast Athletic Conference action a week from Saturday, the Denison University women's lacrosse team earned an 11-7 victory over No. 17 nationally-ranked Christopher Newport University to finish its longest homestand of the season 4-0 and reach five wins in a row overall.

In their first-ever matchup last season, Denison led 7-3 in the second quarter before being shutout the rest of the way and seeing the Captains close the game on a big 13-0 run to take the 16-7 victory.

This time, however, it was the Big Red who nearly shutout CNU in the second half to earn the victory.

Tied 5-5 at halftime, it took nearly seven minutes until a man-up goal on a free position shot by Jane Lukens opened the scoring in the second half. Two minutes later, Maddie Morrell scored, and then after the next draw control was won by Grace Schlossberg, Ana Ortiz DeRosa got into the action with a goal assisted by Lukens just 34 seconds later.

Morrell scored her second goal of the third quarter with just 12 seconds left in the period, capping a 4-0 third quarter for Denison, and then after the opening draw control of the fourth quarter went to Merrill Rollhaus, Morrell added her third goal of the second half on the assist from Rollhaus less than a minute into the final period.

Denison's deciding 6-0 run ended with a goal by Rollhaus with 5:40 left to play.

Rollhaus (3 goals; 1 assist) led the Big Red with four points while Morrell (3 goals) and Lukens (2 goals; 1 assist) both added three points.

Mary Daniel led all players with six draw controls and five groundballs while Ortiz DeRosa led Denison with three caused turnovers.

Freshman goalkeeper Julianne Henigan played all 60 minutes for the first time in her career and finished with 11 saves and a .611 save percentage. In addition to shutting out the Captains in the third quarter, Henigan finished just one minute and four seconds away from recording a second-half shutout.

Denison outshot CNU 11-5 in the third quarter and was a perfect 6-for-6 on clear attempts while limiting the Captains to just a 2-for-4 rate to go along with five turnovers in the period.

With the win, Denison improved to 6-4 overall heading into conference play while CNU fell to 8-4.

For the second year in a row, Denison will open up NCAC action against Wittenberg University, this time on the road starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April. 6. Last year, Denison defeated Wittenberg 17-1 at home in its conference opener.