NEWARK, DE -- Freshmen accounted for half of Delaware's goals and Katie Muth (at right) posted a career-high seven points as the Blue Hens pulled ahead in the second half and held on down the stretch to edge Towson 16-15 in Delaware's Colonial Athletic Association women's lacrosse opener Sunday at Rullo Stadium.

The Blue Hens (5-3, 1-0 CAA) won their fourth straight game as Muth scored four goals and dished out three assists. She is the first Delaware player to record seven points since Kate O’Connell did it against Drexel in 2001.

Casey McCrudden and freshman Emily Schaknowski each netted three goals for Delaware as the Hens are in the midst of their first four-game win streak since an 8-0 start to the 2000 season in which the Blue Hens made the NCAA Tournament.

Towson (3-5, 0-1), whose last three losses have all come by one goal, were led by Shannon Witzel who posted three goals and two assists for the Tigers.

The two teams alternated the first four goals of the game as Courtney Aburn scored twice for the Hens and Meggie McNamara netted two goals for the Tigers. Delaware scored the next three goals of the game to take a 5-2 advantage before Towson ended the half on a 6-2 run to go into the break with an 8-7 lead.

The Blue Hens responded out of the intermission as Debbie Sloan scored at the 25:25 mark to knot the game at 8-8. Cassie Krause would put Towson back ahead with her sixth goal of the season, but Delaware went on to score eight of the next nine goals to take a 16-10 lead. With only 3:52 remaining Towson broke a 13 minute scorless streak when Nikki Marcinik scored of a Witzel pass to bring the Tigers to within four. Witzel then scored two goals in 16 seconds to cut the Blue Hen lead to 16-14 with 1:10 remaining. Hillary Fratzke scored her 25th goal of the season with 32 seconds remaining in the game to cut the Delaware lead to one. After winning the face off, Towson foiled their come from behind effort when Ali Alati turned the ball over with just 18 seconds remaining and Muth grabbed her second groud ball of the afternoon to seal the victory.

The Blue Hens will return to action on Friday when they travel to George Mason for a 7 p.m. start time.

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