Youngstown, Ohio -- Central Michigan scored four straight goals twice in the first half and went on to beat the Youngstown State lacrosse team 17-11 on Sunday afternoon at Farmers National Bank Field.
The 4-0 runs gave the Chippewas leads of 4-0 and 8-3 in the first half, and CMU went on a five-goal burst over the third and fourth periods to fight off the Penguins.
Ally Garrett led the Penguins offensively with three goals, and Ava Kreutzer had two goals and an assist on three shot attempts. Genna Cooke had two goals on three shots, and Jade Shearer, Emma Hoffman, Lena Cox and Grace Rund also found the back of the net.
Sandy Edwards had four goals to lead all scorers for Central Michigan.
The Chippewas went up 4-0 just under nine minutes into the contest when Sadie Hinkle scored with CMU a player up. The Penguins were held scoreless for more than 13 minutes, but they went on a scoring flurry with three goals in just over a minute to get right back in the contest.
Cooke got the Penguins on the board for the first time with 1:32 on the clock, and she won two straight draw controls to set up two more goals. Hoffman scored on a pass from Kreutzer with 52 seconds left on the first-period clock, and Rund scored 32 seconds later to make it a 4-3 margin at the end of the period.
Central Michigan scored the first four goals of the second period to go up 8-3 with 12:25 left, but Youngstown State kept clawing and got within two scores twice. Cox's team-leading 22nd goal of the campaign brought the Penguins to within 8-6 with 8:49 left in the half, and Kreutzer's goal made it 9-7 a minute-and-a-half later.
The score remained 9-7 for nearly six minutes before the Chippewas scored twice in the final 90 seconds of the half to take an 11-7 advantage.
The Penguins got within three at 11-8 on a goal by Garrett, and Cooke's free-position score made it 12-9 with 9:32 left in the third period. Youngstown State was held to two goals the rest of the contest, and the next five goals were by Central Michigan as the visitors took a 17-9 lead six minutes into the fourth period.
Kreutzer ended YSU's scoring drought with a free-position goal at the 8:10 mark, and Garrett scored with the Penguins up a player with 1:08 left for the final tally. The Penguins held Central Michigan scoreless for the final 9:01 of the game. Paige Borkowski recorded 14 saves while playing the duration for Youngstown State.
The Penguins will play three of their next four games on the road, starting with a non-conference contest at Binghamton on Saturday at 1 p.m.
