Carmen Taps In 5 As Boxers Rout Linfield In Season Opener
Box Score
McMINNVILLE, Ore. –
Carmen Taplin (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.) opened her senior season with five goals, leading a high-octane Pacific scoring effort in a 19-4 women's lacrosse rout of Linfield in the Boxers' season opener Wednesday at the Linfield Lacrosse Field.
Taplin scored all five of her goals in the first 12 minutes of the game, providing the fuel for a 10-goal run that opened the contest.
Kaitlyn Harper (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.) and
Melanie Niehus (So., Colorado Springs, Colo.) each scored four goals. Niehus also had four assists and set a Pacific single game record with seven caused turnovers.
Amy Mayhugh (So., Tigard, Ore.) scored three goals,
Kelly Stevens (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) added two and
Brittany Hartmann (Sr., Portland, Ore.) scored one.
Pacific finished the night out-shooting Linfield 33-7 and forced 27 Wildcats' turnovers. Brittani Drost led the Wildcats with three goals.
Taplin opened scoring for the Boxers just a minute into the game off of
Adrienne Wilburn's (Sr., Boise, Idaho) assist. That goal opened the floodgates as Pacific scored six goals in the first 10 minutes and 10 straight goals over the first 14 minutes. Taplin cashed in once again at the 23:57 mark to make it a 4-0 game and started a run of four straight she would put in the net.
Harper capped the run with her first two goals after taking a season off, the last off a
Katie Oliver (Fr., Portland, Ore.) assist with 16:59 left to make a 10-0 lead. Drost broke the shutout with her goal at the 16:59 mark and added a second with just under eight minutes left, but the Boxers closed the half on a 5-0 run. Harper capped the stanza with her fourth goal of the game with a second left to give the Boxers the 15-2 lead.
From there Pacific would play a slow-down style of game, but still scored the first four goals of the second half. Mayhugh tallied the opening goal five minutes into the period while Hartmann closed it with her strike with 17:24 left. After that, neither team scored for a 12-minute span before Linfield scored twice within the final minutes to close the match.
Hartmann was barely tested in her first win of the season in goal, making three saves and allowing two goals in 51 minutes of action.
Stephanie Carter (Fr., Applegate, Ore.) played the final nine minutes in her first college game. Linfield's Kaleigh Phillips was responsible for all 19 goals against while making seven saves.
Pacific returns to action next Monday, traveling north to face fellow Northwest rival Puget Sound.
