BALTIMORE, MD -- Casey McCrudden (right) and Debbie Sloan each posted three goals and an assist to lead the University of Delaware women’s lacrosse team to a 16-5 victory over UMBC Friday afternoon.

The Blue Hens earned their first victory of the 2007 season by improving to 1-2 on the year. UMBC, which fell to 3-3 on the season, dropped its fifth game in six all-time meetings with Delaware.

Nicole Flego recorded two goals and an assist for Delaware, while Emily Schaknowski, Katie Muth and Courtney Aburn each contributed two goals. Jessica Cerveny made five saves and allowed five goals while playing all 60 mintues in the Blue Hen goal.

Delaware struck first when Aburn scored an unassisted goal with 23:35 left in the first half, and exactly two minutes later Muth added a goal to make it a 2-0 game. Heather Licht answered 10 seconds later for the Retrievers off an assist from Kelly Fahey to cut the Delaware advantage to 2-1, but the Blue Hens responded with seven consecutive goals to go up 9-1.

Flego ignited the spurt with a pair of unassisted goals 1:24 apart, and Schaknowski scored at the 12:08 mark to put Delaware ahead 5-1. After McCrudden scored twice, the first off a feed from Sloan, Aburn and Muth added unassisted goals to make it an eight-goal game with 6:58 to play in the half. Jen Kasper ended the run with an unassisted goal at the 3:10 mark to pull the Retrievers within 9-2 at the break.

Sloan opened the second half scoring before UMBC’s Abbey Swift and Amanda Gable scored to make it a 10-4 game with 17:16 to play. After Amanda Jones scored for the Blue Hens, Swift scored again as UMBC got within 11-5 at the 13:30 mark. However Delaware scored the final five goals of the game to pull away.

Alexis Curcio started the run with a goal off an assist from McCrudden, while Sloan and Muth followed with goals 17 seconds apart to put the Blue Hens ahead 14-5 with 9:27 remaining. After Schaknowski found the back of the cage with 8:01 left, McCrudden closed the scoring with a goal off a feed from Flego with 1:11 to play.

Delaware held a 31-14 shot advantage and a 13-6 edge in groundballs. The Blue Hens also won 12 of the 23 draw controls.

Delaware returns to action on Wednesday when the Blue Hens travel to the University of Pennsylvania for a 7 p.m. game with the Quakers.

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