No. 23 Tigers down Wildcats before sellout crowd |
CLEMSON - Opening the Clemson Lacrosse Complex before a sellout crowd, the No. 23 ranked Tigers dominated their season-opening match against Davidson, 19-10. In Season 2 for the program, the 1,246 fans there marked the highest women’s lacrosse game attendance in Clemson history. Freshman attacker Regan Byrne showed this crowd what she could do as she led the team in scoring with six goals.
Davidson scored first less than two minutes into the match, but Clemson responded quickly and never looked back. At the end of the first quarter, they had a 7-2 lead, which they extended to a seven-point lead by halftime. Despite how well Clemson’s team played last season, the new players - freshmen and transfers - made all the difference in this game. In addition to Byrne’s performance, graduate attacker transfer Claire Bockstie was second on the team in scoring with four goals and had five assists, garnering her the team record for points in a game with nine. Byrne’s eight points in the game is second in team history. In total, freshmen or transfer students scored 18 of Clemson’s 19 goals. However, Bockstie and Byrne’s connection was the greatest spark for this team throughout the game. “Claire just always keeps her head up, and we just know to always look for each other,” Byrne said. “When Claire’s cutting or dodging to the goal, I’m always (thinking), ‘I got to you because Claire’s going to look for me.’ And she’s just such a great passer. So, we just figured that out early on.” Byrne is a player who tries to avoid the spotlight. Even after scoring six goals, the most by a rookie in Clemson lacrosse history, she was trying to avoid being shown on the jumbotron at the game. However, with how she played on Saturday, she seems like a player who will surely be in the spotlight throughout the season. Still, she attributes her success in this game to her teammates and particularly the upperclassmen. “I was just working all of my teammates,” Byrne said. “I just have such great upperclassmen that help me out, and they’re just so much fun to work with, and they’re always keeping their eyes up, looking out for me in the middle.” Defensively, the Tigers stood tall as well. Junior goalie Emily Lamparter had six saves in this game, building off her productive season last year when she received an honorable mention for Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-American awards. Further, the Tigers outshot the Wildcats 37 to 23, with 33 of their shots being on goal. They also had fewer fouls than Davidson, with 17 compared to Davidson’s 21. In addition, they had fewer turnovers than Davidson, with only 12. Graduate attacker Hanna Hilcoff accounted for a quarter of those turnovers. With another dominant opening to the season, the Tigers lacrosse team shows a lot of promise for the rest of the season. Senior midfielder Ella Little and Graduate attacker Hanna Hilcoff were both given honorable mention awards for USA Lacrosse Preseason All-American. After narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last season, the Tigers are off to a good start to be able to make it to the tournament this season. They will play their next match at Furman on Wednesday, February 14 (4 p.m.) before returning home to face Coastal Carolina on Saturday, February 17 (noon/ACCNX). Their first match against a ranked team could be on Saturday, February 24, at current No. 24 Duke (noon/ACCN), who they upset last season 11-10. So grateful for this SELLOUT crowd 🫶 pic.twitter.com/Q517Np5gwj Tigers are up with less than 15 minutes left in the season opener No angle, no problem 🤷♀️ That's a hat trick for Regan🤯🤯🤯
Clemson: 16 Davidson: 7 pic.twitter.com/kr2CXAVbdU
Claire Bockstie scores her second of the day to give the Tigers an 11-2 lead pic.twitter.com/mMlpbR8FXT
Clemson: 6 Davidson: 1 pic.twitter.com/cjezjPqzki
And they’re just getting started 😏 pic.twitter.com/0pQB3AMuvb
— Clemson Women's Lacrosse (@ClemsonWlax) February 10, 2024
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