FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The Averett University women's lacrosse team stretched their win streak to five with a 14-12 win at Methodist University on Wednesday.

Down 7-5 at the halftime break, Averett came out with a ton of energy to begin the second half. This paid off for the Cougars as they scored five unanswered goals in the first 7:55 of the latter frame. Freshman Courtney DeLone and senior Alixis Roccia each scored a goal in the 33rd minute that came 14 seconds from each other to tie the match at seven. The Cougars kept the pressure on offensively and they would convert once again as Roccia and sophomore Elizabeth Peasley scored goals in the 36th minute that were ten seconds from each other to give Averett the 9-7 advantage. A minute later, DeLone would tally her third of the afternoon to hand the Cougars the 10-7 lead with 22:05 to play.

Over the course of the next 5:45 of game time each team would register a goal to push the score to 11-8 in favor of Averett. Both teams would keep trading scoring opportunities until Methodist scored in the 53rd minute of play and the 54th minute to cut the Cougar lead to 11-10. At this point, head coach Kelly Ryan would call a timeout to hinder the Methodist momentum.

The timeout proved to be just what the Cougars needed as Averett tallied three straight goals during the next 2:53 of play to give the navy and gold their largest lead of the afternoon at 14-10. Freshman Adriana Perez recorded the hat-trick before freshman Hannah Mae Ayers and sophomore Haley Boardway each scored to give the Cougars some breathing room on the scoreboard.

Boardway tallied her goal with 3:46 left on the clock. Methodist would score a couple of goals late, but Averett held them off the rest of the way to win the match, 14-12.

Methodist controlled the pace of play in the first half as the Monarchs outshot the Cougars 19-14. Both sides were level at 15 in ground balls with Averett having the slight edge in draw controls at 8-5. Methodist led throughout the entirety of the first half with the Monarchs owning the 7-5 advantage going into the locker room.  

The Cougars brought their game to another level in the second half as Averett held the advantage in ground balls (13-8) and draw controls (11-4) which led to 21 shots for the Cougars compared to nine for the Monarchs.

At the end of the match, Perez finished with a career-high three goals while DeLone led the way with four. Roccia had a pair of goals in addition to tacking on three assists.

Averett looks to continue their win streak on Saturday as the Cougars host Salem College. Saturday's game is Team Molly Game for the Cougars as the women's lacrosse program is raising awareness for Ewing Sarcoma, a rare and fast-growing type of cancer. Donations can be made at both the women's and men's lacrosse games on Saturday. The women's game against Salem is scheduled for 1 p.m. with the men playing right after at 4 p.m.