Salem, Ore. - In a battle between two teams at the top of the Northwest Conference standings, the George Fox Bruins came out on top, defeating Willamette 13-5 at Sparks Field.  Alex Warfel led the Bearcats with three goals, with Lily Bachiochi and Shea Richardson-Pepper adding the other two.

The Bruins opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the match on a goal by Lana Davis, but the Bearcats quickly responded with two of their own to take an early 2-1 lead.  Less than a minute after the opening goal for GFU, Bachiochi was able to tie the score off the assist by Ruby Hampton, and the Bearcats took the lead just over twenty seconds later when Richardson-Pepper scored her goal with the assist to Sydney Davis.

George Fox was able to tie the score at 2-2 with just under seven minutes left in the quarter, but Warfel's first goal of the game put Willamette back in front 3-2 less than a minute later.  The Bearcats had a few more chances to add to their lead, but Warfel had a shot blocked and then another shot saved to keep the advantage at one.  The Bruins were able to tie the score 3-3 with four minutes left in the first and scored three goals in the final two minutes of the quarter to take a 6-3 to the break.

Willamette pushed to close the gap in the second quarter and outshot the George Fox 5-1 early in the period but were unable to find the back of the net.  Another goal by Davis gave the Bruins a 7-3 lead and proved to be the only scoring of the quarter as the Bruins took a four-goal advantage into halftime.

Warfel scored her second goal early in the third quarter to make the score 7-4, but unfortunately for the Bearcats, that turned out to be their only goal of the period and the Bruins carried an 11-4 lead to the final fifteen minutes of play.  Warfel's final goal came with just over five minutes left to make the score 13-5 and that ended as the final score of the match.

In addition to her goal, Richardson-Pepper led the Bearcats in ground balls with four and won four draws for Willamette.  Warfel led the Bearcats in draw controls with eight.  Jay Shiflett caused nine Bruin turnovers to lead Willamette, followed by Syd Shoemaker with five.  

Lacrosse will travel to Eastern Washington next weekend and take on Whitworth University on Friday, April 18th, and Whitman College on Saturday, April 19th.