Syracuse, N.Y. – Sophomore attacker Sidney Hall (Adams Center, N.Y./South Jefferson) tallied five points to lead the fourth-ranked Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team to a 16-6 season-opening victory over 15th-ranked Mercyhurst University on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.

The teams traded goals over the opening 16:01 of the contest. Junior attacker Bryanna Fazio (Watertown, N.Y./General Brown) started the scoring at the 26:04 mark with an unassisted tally. Kristin Anderson answered back with an extra-player goal off a free-position shot with 23:19 remaining. Junior attacker Madison Pritchard (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Onondaga C.C./Canisius) netted her first goal as a Dolphin with 19:14 left after taking a pass from freshman attacker Erin McMullen (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill). Anderson countered again with another unassisted tally with 17:47 to go. Sophomore midfielder Nicole Delany (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) gave the Dolphins the lead back with an unassisted goal at the 15:33 mark, while Cassandra Ellis tied the score for the final time with a free-position goal 62 seconds later.

Junior Monica Sanna (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford) gave the Dolphins the lead for good with 13:59 left to ignite a five-goal run. Hall found the back of the net 29 seconds later off a free-position shot. McMullen registered her first collegiate goal with 8:02 left to give the Dolphins a 6-3 lead. Following a save by sophomore goalkeeper Hannah George (Johnson City, N.Y./Maine-Endwell), Delany scored in transition with 6:32 left off a pass from Hall, who then scored her second goal of the game 47 seconds later.

Anderson got the Lakers back within four with 4:45 left in the half by finishing off a pass from Lacey Netti.

The Dolphins scored twice in the last 3:09 of the half to take a 10-4 lead into the intermission. Hall scored Le Moyne's ninth goal with 3:09 left, while McMullen finished off a pass from Pritchard with 2:01 to go.

Le Moyne took a double-digit lead with the first six goals of the second half. McMullen started the scoring at the 27:25 mark, while Pritchard scored off a feed from Sanna in a player-down situation with 21:44 to go. Delany then tallied her third goal of the contest after collecting a pass from Hall with 19:42 remaining, while Fazio made it a 10-goal game with a free-position tally with 14:56 to play. Pritchard found the back of the net off a rebound with 9:59 left, while Delany picked up her fourth marker of the game with 8:00 to go after receiving a feed from Sanna.

Mercyhurst scored the final two goals of the game to deliver the final score. Taylor Izzo netted a free-position goal with 4:36 remaining, while Angelina Simon converted a free-position shot of her own with 51 ticks left.

George finished the contest with eight saves, including five in the first half, to earn her 20th career victory between the pipes. By doing so in just her 22nd career start, George is the fastest goalkeeper in the program's history to record 20 career wins. Abby Miller registered 13 saves in the loss for the Lakers.

Le Moyne (1-0), which has defeated the Lakers five straight years, opens Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday against Assumption College at 12:00 p.m.