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SCORE: Kennesaw State 9, Mercer 18
RECORDS: Kennesaw State (5-8, 1-1), Mercer (5-6, 2-2) 
KEY PLAYERS: Siena Gore (4 goals, 2 assts, 2 GBs, 1 CT, 1 DC), Jaxsyn Schonewille (2 goals, 1 asst), Emily Napierala (1 goal, 2 assts), Julia Weiss (9 saves, 5 GBs), Hannah Barth (1 goal, 1 GB, 1 CT), Rachel Price (3 CTs, 2 GBs) and Sam Campanella (3 GBs).

THE STORYLINE
After a close first half saw the Kennesaw State women's lacrosse team and Mercer tied 5-5, the Bears came out firing in the second period to down the Owls 18-9 in Macon Saturday afternoon.

MANESS QUOTE
On the game...
"Today's game was tough. We came out hard and carried a lead the entire first half. Julia Weiss was a wall in goal for us. We ultimately had a lot of issues with the draw which made things so much harder on us down the second half stretch. Hannah Barth and Abbey Behn stepped up today though which I'm happy about."

HOW IT HAPPENED  
After a pair of defensive stops by KSU to open the game, Jaxsyn Schonewille got the Owls rolling with the opening goal at the 28:12 mark. The Owls extended their lead to 3-0 behind back-to-back goals from Siena Gore. The Bears eventually got on the board with a goal at the 18:12 mark, but the Owls responded with goals from Siena Gore and Emily Napierala to make it 5-1.

Mercer cut KSU's lead down to one, 5-4, with three goals in under two minutes to force a timeout with 10 minutes left in the period. The Bears managed to net one more goal in the final minutes to even the game at 5-5 at halftime. Julia Weiss propped up the Owl's defense in the period, finishing the first half with eight saves.

Mercer continued its momentum into the second half with two goals in quick succession to take a 7-5 lead in the opening minutes. The Bears kept the pressure on with two more goals before Hannah Barth finally snapped a 20-minute scoring drought for KSU to make it 9-6 with 23:50 still to play. Schonewille added another for the Owls, but the Bears fired back with back-to-back goals to maintain their lead 11-7.

Siena Gore pulled one back for KSU minutes later with her fourth goal of the game. The rest of the half was all Mercer as the Bears closed out the final 13 minutes outscoring KSU 7-1 with the Owls lone goal coming from Abbey Behn, her fifth of the season. Mercer outdrew the Owls 15-3 in the second half.

NOTES 
- Siena Gore recorded her eighth game this season with at least four goals.
- Emily Napierala dished out a season-high two assists.
- Rachel Price tied her career-high with three caused turnovers.
- Mercer recorded 23 draw controls to KSU's six.
- The Owls attempted only one free position shot, which Siena Gore converted.

UP NEXT  
KSU closes out the regular season in Fifth Third Bank Stadium Friday (Apr. 30) hosting No. 9 Jacksonville at 4 p.m.