CLOVER, S.C. – Coastal Carolina women’s lacrosse opened the 2021 season with a dominating 17-3 win over the Radford Highlanders in a neutral site contest held in Clover, S.C. The Chanticleers used a balanced attack and a smothering defense to earn the victory.
 
Coastal opened its third consecutive season with a victory to start 1-0 while the Highlanders fell to 0-2 on the young season.
 
Samantha Courtemanche and Kayla Downey paced the offensive attack with four goals each with Downey adding two assists to tally six points, while Radford had one goal each from Margaret Gleason, Grace Gleason, and Jennifer Shield.
 
Coastal started the scoring when Hannah Close beat the Highlander goalkeeper to give the Chants an early 1-0 lead with just under three minutes expiring from the game clock. Downey scored her first career Chanticleer goal a minute later to push the lead to 2-0.
 
CCU would go up 5-0 on goals by Lauren Cremen (three goals), Megan Bozzi(three goals), and Downey with 8:29 remaining in the first half of action. Freshman Monica Manley tallied three assists to score the first points of her career.
 
Radford would cut into the Chants lead on goals by Grace (3:31) and Margaret (0:42) Gleason as the Highlanders would trail 5-2 at the break.
 
Radford’s Shield would open the scoring in the second stanza with just 1:30 expiring from the game clock to narrow the lead to 5-3.
 
The Chanticleers offense would open the floodgates and score the final 12 goals as Courtemanche, Downey, Bozzi, and Cremen would get the hat trick in the second half. Newcomer Hannah Calarco would score the first goal of her collegiate career.
 
Coastal Carolina returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 20, as they will travel to Rock Hill to take on in-state foe Winthrop. The opening draw is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.