Boxscore

NEWARK, Del. -- Freshman midfielder Stephanie Allen (top right) scored six goals and sophomore attack Lindsey Coon (bottom right) added four as the University of Delaware women’s lacrosse team defeated William & Mary, 15-11 in Colonial Athletic Association action Sunday afternoon.

Delaware (6-5, 2-0 CAA) has now won 20 of its last 23 home games at Rullo Stadium dating back to 2007.

Allen’s six goals was the most by a Delaware player since Casey McCrudden posted six goals against St. Bonaventure on Mar. 21, 2007. It was also the most goals by a freshman since Meghan Mulqueen scored seven against Hofstra on Mar. 25, 1989. Allen has now scored at least one goal in the last six games for the Blue Hens.

With the win, Delaware avenges two losses to William & Mary last season, including the 15-14 heartbreaker the Hens suffered in the CAA Semifinals. The Tribe still holds a 9-6 all-time series advantage.

The two teams were pretty even in most statistical categories, but William & Mary did out-shoot the Blue Hens, 35-27. Delaware senior goalkeeper Jessica Cerveny was up to the challenge though, making 14 saves, many of them from point-blank range. She also scooped up a game-high seven groundballs on the day as she picked up the win in goal.

Leading the way for the Tribe was Ashley Holofcener with six points on four goals and two assists. Defender Sarah Johnson (two goal, one assist) and Mary Zulty (one goal, two assists) each tallied three points for W&M as well. Johnson also forced a game-high five turnovers.

Coon put Delaware on the board a little over a minute into the action with an unassisted goal. Allen followed a little over five minutes later to give the Hens an early 2-0 lead.

Holfcener put the Tribe in the scoring column at 18:23 with a goal off an assist from Grace Golden to cut the Blue Hen lead in half, but Delaware responded with two quick strikes.

Allen scored again off an assist from Sloan and senior midfielder Erin Zimmerman scored her fourth goal of the year off junior attack Emily Schaknowski’s assist 46 seconds later to push the lead to 4-1.

Holfcener responded for the Tribe with a goal at 14:38 and Johnson followed with her second goal of the game a few minutes later to cut the deficit to 4-3. Delaware then went on a 3-0 run with goals by junior attack Courtney Aburn, Coon and Allen. Allen’s goal at 4:58, which was assisted by Zimmerman, gave Delaware its biggest lead of the day at 7-3.

But William & Mary, winners of three of the last four meetings in this series, would not go away. The Tribe went on a 4-0 run in a span of just over three minutes to tie the score at seven apiece. Golden, Zulty, Holfcener and Johnson each scored for W&M.

Following Johnson’s goal with nine seconds left in the half, Allen won the draw control for the Hens on the Tribe’s half of the field, and sprinted down the middle of the field and threw a shot past W&M goalkeeper Emily Geary just before the buzzer to give the Hens an 8-7 advantage at the break.

Just as she did in the first half, Coon started the scoring for Delaware in the second stanza with a free-position goal a little over 30 seconds in to give the Hens a two-goal cushion.

The Tribe’s Maggie Anderson scored a few minutes later off an assist from Holofcener to bring W&M back within one, but that would be the closest the Tribe would get the rest of the way.

Aburn then scored her second goal of the game and 12th for the year off Schaknowski’s 10th assist of the season, and Coon followed with her fourth goal of the day and 11th of the season at 23:03 to put Delaware in front 11-8.

The two teams traded goals the rest of the way, with Allen scoring the game’s final goal at 1:13 to give the game its final score of 15-11. It was her sixth of the day and 13th of the season for the freshman who was the hero in the Hen’s 9-8 victory over Old Dominion on Friday after scoring the gamewinner with two seconds left in regulation.

Delaware is back in action on Friday, April 10 when the Hens travel to CAA foe Drexel for a 6 p.m. game in Philadelphia.