HICKORY, N.C. – Senior Cathleen Gaffney dished out seven assists and became the all-time leader in career assists at Lenoir-Rhyne in a 20-15 season-opening victory over Belmont Abbey. Gaffney entered the game needing just five assists to break Lauren Donovan's career mark of 87 and did just that on a second-half helper to move into sole possession of the assist record.  

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 20, Belmont Abbey 15
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (1-0), Belmont Abbey (0-1)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | Moretz Stadium

STATS OF THE GAME:
• The Crusaders came out firing, scoring the first four goals of the game in a 4:25 span to force an LR timeout. Alyssa Sack scored the first of her eight goals to put the Bears on the board and start the comeback. 
• Belmont Abbey took a 13-12 lead with 14:53 left in the game before the Bears took over. Gaffney, Sack and Gia Colombo combined to score seven straight goals in a 7-0 scoring run that saw LR grab a 19-13 advantage.  
• Colombo finished the game with five goals on just six shots. The sophomore added three ground balls and six draw controls. Frances Williams also had six draw controls to go with a goal, five ground balls and five caused turnovers. 
• Teanna Sieben finished with 13 saves, the second-most in her career. Sieben's career-high of 16 saves came against Embry-Riddle in 2019.
• LR put up 13 of their 20 goals in the second half and held a 24-19 advantage in ground balls. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
• With nine points today, Gaffney moves into fifth place all-time in team history with 159 career points. She started the day in seventh place but passed Sarah Minick and Rachel Elmore today. Additionally, her seven assists are the second-most in a single game in program history. The Allentown, Pa. native also owns the mark for most assists in a game with nine against Wingate in 2018. 
• The last time LR scored 20 goals in a game was against Tusculum on 3/18/2018. 
• Sack was one goal away from tying the record for most goals in a game. Sarah Minick scored nine in a game on two separate occasions. 
•  The Bears are now 4-6 all-time in season openers. This marks the fourth straight year LR has opened up against Belmont Abbey and the Bears own a 2-2 mark in those contests. 
• LR is now 15-16 all-time in the month of February. 

UP NEXT:  The Bears host No.23 Saint Leo on Friday at 4 PM.