NASHVILLE, Tenn. – On a picture perfect day, the Vanderbilt lacrosse team gutted out a gritty win over High Point by a 17-13 final score at Vanderbilt Stadium on Sunday.
The win moves the Commodores to 4-2 overall, including a 4-0 mark in Nashville.
The Commodores’ offense was fueled by a number of key performances, notably Maddie Souza and her career-high six goals to go with Gabby Fornia, who tied a school record with seven assists. In the process, Fornia moved into a tie for first in the Vanderbilt record book with 88 career assists.
Gabby Fornia with her 7th assist.
That ties the single game record for assists.
She also now has 88 career assists, tying the school record.
🟣 13
⚓️ 152nd » 3:02#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/K9o9rZMStE
— Vanderbilt Lacrosse (@VandyLacrosse) March 7, 2021
"The girls were locked in during the timeouts and bought into the adjustments," Vanderbilt head coach Beth Hewitt said. "The game didn’t come easy to us, that’s for sure. We were behind on 50/50 balls, but we really worked hard to come together to clean up fundamentals. Maddie Souza, seemed like every time we needed a goal, she came up with it."
Seven different Commodores found the back of the net. In addition to Souza’s six goals, Elizabeth Scarrone and Callie Sundin both added a hat trick.
High Point raced out to a 3-1 lead before Vandy bounced back to knot the score at 8-8 at the half. In the second half, the Panthers continued to battle and held a 12-11 edge with 10 minutes to play. Vanderbilt’s offense dominated down the stretch, scoring six of the game’s final seven goals to pull away.
Fornia, Souza and Scarrone all scored within 1:37 of each other to put the Dores up 14-12 with 6:59 to go. After a High Point goal, tallies from Sundin, Souza and Bri Gross in the final 3:18 put the game away.
The Dores and Panthers were deadlocked in shots (33) and ground balls (22).
Sophomore goalkeeper Paige Gunning put on another stellar performance with 11 saves on the day.
Souza is amazing.
That’s her sixth goal of the game.
🟣 13
⚓️ 162nd » 2:09#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/ncGk8nKik7
— Vanderbilt Lacrosse (@VandyLacrosse) March 7, 2021
The Dores will welcome Kennesaw State to Vanderbilt Stadium on Wednesday at 1 p.m. to close out the nonconference slate.
Dores Win at Vanderbilt Stadium by Vanderbilt Athletics on Exposure
