CHICAGO – The University of Chicago women's lacrosse team unloaded an onslaught of shots at Carthage College's defense en route to a 17-2 home victory on Wednesday night.

The Maroons kept their perfect record intact at 5-0, improving to 2-0 within the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW). The Firebirds fell to 3-6 overall (0-3 CCIW).

Before the game, the hosts honored defender/midfielder Bri Fadden as part of Senior Night on the Stagg Field turf. During her three years on the team, the Maroons have compiled a 23-3 overall record.

Once the game commenced, UChicago was in attack mode and fired off a bevy of shots. The offense fired off five shots on the game's opening possession, which ended with sophomore Katie Large providing the unassisted goal. A mere 14 seconds later, junior Ali Sheehy burst through to make it 2-0 off an assist from junior Lally Johnson.

An eight-minute dry spell occurred between scores until sophomore Charlotte Rapp's score in the 20th minute. Johnson provided the assist once again. Carthage surprised the hosts with a shorthanded goal with 16:45 left in the half to make it 3-1. But Large immediately erased it by grabbing the subsequent draw control and sprinting straight in to score 11 seconds later.

With the Maroons controlling the draws, the offense teed off for 25 shots in the opening half alone. Despite a huge shot disparity, UChicago's eight goals felt like a low total considering the abundance of chances. Sheehy and Large posted three goals each in the opening 30 minutes. The Maroon defense proved stout on the other end and did not allow quality looks, with only one shot on goal in the half.

Carthage drew first blood five minutes into the second half. But the Maroons eventually found their stride against the Firebirds' packed-in defense. They found the back of the net three times in a two-minute span to go up 11-2. Large's fourth goal of the night midway through the half enacted the running clock and the home team comfortably cruised to the finish line with five more tallies after that.

The final statistics reflected UChicago's dominance. The hosts outshot Carthage 42-7 – their biggest shot disparity of the year (+35). The defense surrendered a season-low three shots on goal. Ground balls were solidly in UChicago's favor at 27-15, while draw controls were close at 11-10.

Carthage committed twice as many turnovers (28-14) and went 12-for-22 on clears. UChicago converted 16 of 18 clear attempts.

Sheehy and Large led the attack with four goals and one assist apiece. Large grabbed five draw controls and Sheehy fielded three ground balls. Johnson tallied two goals and three assists to go with two caused turnovers and four ground balls. Sophomore Hailey Klinger caused two turnovers and scooped up four ground balls. Sophomore Peyton Sanborn and Zoe Torok scored twice.

NEXT GAME:

• Saturday, April 17 @ 1:00 PM – UChicago at Illinois Wesleyan University