HANOVER, Ind. (April 8) – The Waynesburg University women's lacrosse hit the road for its first of two-straight games in the state of Indiana on Friday. The Yellow Jackets got the road trip off to a great start by gritting out a 7-6 Ohio River Lacrosse Conference (ORLC) win over Hanover.
 
The victory was the first for the team under Stephanie Benkowski, who is in her first year as head coach after four years as an assistant with the Yellow Jackets (1-7, 1-2).
 
The Jackets came flying out of the gate by scoring the game's first three goals. Junior Jess Pecar got things started with a goal three minutes into the contest. Junior Abbie Miller doubled her team's advantage with 16:36 remaining in the first half after taking a feed from senior Morgan Vesco. Vesco and Miller teamed up again for tally number three, which came 21 minutes into the first half.
 
Hanover (4-8, 1-4) ended Waynesburg's hot streak by posting the game's next two scores. The visiting team managed to regain its momentum when junior Jess Rains re-established a multi-goal advantage (4-2) before halftime. The veteran split the pipes with 5:23 left to play in the period.
 
Neither team was able to score over the first 12:31 of the second half. Junior Holly Bachman ended the scoring drought to make the score 5-2. Bachman posted her team-leading 29^th goal of the season to answer Hanover's third score of the contest. Waynesburg's top scorer notched her second of the game with just over 10 minutes left to play to make the score 6-3.
 
Things got very interesting over the next 8:44, as three-straight Panther scores tied the game at 6-6. However, a Hanover foul put Rains in position to pull out the victory with a free position shot. The junior stood tall under pressure and secured the win for the Orange and Black.
 
Rains, Bachman and Miller combined for six of Waynesburg's seven points on a trio of two-goal efforts. Their offensive output was just enough support for senior JoHanna Phillips, who had perhaps her best game of the year in net. Phillips stopped 12-of-18 shots on goal to pick up the win.
 
The Jackets won't have much time to celebrate the victory, as they travel to Franklin College tomorrow for an ORLC contest. Start time is scheduled for 3 p.m.