PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College women's lacrosse opened the 2026 season with a 14-4 non-conference victory over Pacific University on Wednesday night at Griswold Stadium.
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 14, Pacific 4
(Lewis & Clark 1-0)
(Pacific 1-1)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
First-year Ala Cross made her collegiate debut and recorded her first-career hat trick, scoring four goals and adding an assist for five points to lead Lewis & Clark. Juniors Sage Swegle and Finley Allen recorded hat tricks. Swegle finished with three goals and an assist, while Allen added three goals on six shots, all on target. Junior Aviana Gonzales posted one goal and three assists for four points, recording a hat trick of assists.
 
Sophomore Mack Searle controlled the draw with nine draw controls and added a goal. Senior Kate Meinhard won five draw controls and scored off a feed from Gonzales in the third quarter.
 
Lewis & Clark scored the first five goals of the game. Cross opened the scoring with her first collegiate goal at the 12:58 mark of the first quarter off an assist from Gonzales. Allen followed with a free-position goal at 6:14, and Swegle converted a free position at 1:20 to make it 3-0. Allen scored again off a Cross assist with 48 seconds left in the period, and the River Otters carried a 4-0 lead into the second quarter.
 
Swegle extended the lead to 5-0 early in the second. Pacific's Ellena Willingham scored at 11:47, but Cross answered in the final seconds of the half to send Lewis & Clark into the break ahead 6-1.
 
Pacific's Jasmyn Zimmerman scored to open the third quarter. Gonzales responded 42 seconds later with a goal assisted by Swegle, and Meinhard, junior Rowan Levandoski and Searle each scored in a four-minute stretch to push the lead to 10-2. Sarah Quade scored on a free position for Pacific late in the period to make it 10-3 entering the fourth.
 
Quade pulled Pacific within 10-4 early in the fourth quarter, but Lewis & Clark closed the game with four straight goals. Allen scored at the 8:29 mark, and Cross added two goals in the final two minutes. Swegle scored the final goal on a man-up opportunity as time expired to set the final margin at 14-4.
 
Sophomore Kaitlin McRae started in goal and allowed one goal in the first half while recording one save to earn the win. First-year Phoebe Labuhn played the second half in her collegiate debut and made her first two career saves.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Cross led all players with five points (4G, 1A) and collected four ground balls.
• The River Otters won 16 of the game's 20 draw controls with Searle and Meinhard combining for 12.
• Lewis & Clark converted 10 of 11 clear attempts (91%). Pacific converted 9 of 19 (47%).
• Levandoski returned to the lineup after missing last season with an injury and scored a goal while putting all three of her shots on target.
• The River Otters outshot Pacific 33-12 and held a 22-15 advantage in ground balls.

 WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark travels to Tacoma for a non-conference game at the University of Puget Sound at 1 p.m. on Saturday.