DANVILLE, Va. — Freshmen Kelsey Steckroth and Morgan Dearing recorded their first collegiate goals in Averett University women's lacrosse 12-4 USA South Conference victory over Huntingdon College on Saturday.
 
Huntingdon (3-4, 1-2 USA South) tallied the opening two goals of Saturday's conference clash to take a 2-0 advantage, however junior Elizabeth Peasley broke the scoring drought for the Cougars with a goal off sophomore Courtney DeLone's assist to cut the score to 2-1.
 
Dearing netted her first collegiate goal 50 seconds later to even the match a 2-2 and gave the Cougars a 3-2 advantage with her second goal with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half. 
 
Averett (1-4, 1-0 USA South) allowed one goal in the final minutes of the first half, but the Cougars closed the opening frame on a 3-0 scoring run to take a 6-3 advantage into the break. 
 
Peasley started the Cougars scoring run with her second goal of the game, while freshman Raven Felder tallied her second collegiate goal and sophomore Hannah Mae Ayers got in the scoring action to push the advantage.
 
The Cougars continued their scoring streak with four unanswered goals to open the second half, three coming off the stick of Peasley and the forth from DeLone. 
 
The Hawks ended the Cougars 7-0 run with a goal with 17:04 remaining in the second half, but Steckroth powered home her first collegiate goal just seconds later and Peasley scored her sixth of the game and team leading 20th goal of the season to extend Averett's advantage to 12-4. 
 
Averett finished the afternoon with a 40-19 shot advantage and a 27-18 ground ball edge. 
 
Peasley paced the Cougars with a team-high eight shots and three draw controls, while Steckroth, freshman Taylor Roberts-Dishon and junior Haley Boardway all tallied three ground balls apiece. 
 
Sophomore Emiy Eby recorded her best career game in net for the Cougars recording 10 saves, while allowing only four goals against. 
 
The Cougars return back to action on Wednesday when they battle Pfeiffer University on the road in conference action beginning at 4 p.m.