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March 19, 2003 | Stats

Nadia Harmsen became only the fourth player in AU history to have 100 career points.

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Nadia Harmsen became the fourth player in AU history to notch 100 career points as the American University women’s lacrosse team defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 15-9. Harmsen had two goals and three assists in the game while Katy Zaweski had four goals and an assist. Nicole McCarthy and Rebecca Copeland each added a hat trick as the Eagles won their fifth straight game to improve to 5-2 on the season.

AU struck quickly with Gina Riitano earning the initial draw control. Harmsen then fed Zaweski for the first goal of the game just 20 seconds into the match. Copeland scored on a free position shot less than a minute later and Zaweski scored her second goal of the match as the Eagles opened a 3-0 lead 3:10 into the game.

The Mount (0-6) got on the board moments later as Kirby Day took the ball through the middle to score and cut the AU lead to 3-1. A goal by Megan Fick brought MSM within one. Zaweski found Copeland with just under 20 minutes remaining in the first half to put the Eagles back up by two. A Kelly Moran goal less than a minute later for Mount St. Mary’s made the score 4-3.

McCarthy found the back of the net as the AU margin was returned to two. She scored her second goal of the game off a nice feed from Harmsen behind the goal six minutes later as AU went up, 6-3. With 6:47 remaining in the half, Laura Repoli fed Harmsen who scored to notch her 100th career point. Jamie Crean scooped up a ground ball off an AU shot and put it in the net to put the Eagles up 8-3 and force the Mount to call a timeout.

Mount St. Mary’s dominated the rest of the half to claw back into the game. An unassisted goal by Lauren Reymann ended the AU run with three minutes remaining in the half. The Mount added two goals in the final 16 seconds of the half to make the Eagle margin 8-6 at the half.

AU came out strong in the second half to put the game out of reach. Zaweski scored her third goal of the match to start the scoring in the second half. McCarthy fed Copeland for her third goal of the game to put the Eagles up, 10-6. Harmsen then scored her second goal of the game a minute later as the AU lead stretched to five. Zaweski scored yet another goal on a free position shot making the score 12-6.

Harmsen had her third assist of the game as she found Repoli in front of the goal as the Eagles continued their run to open the half. Lynn Brandon picked off a pass and then found Riitano in front of the goal as the Eagles went up 14-6. The Mount finally got on the board in the second half as Kim Keene scored with eight minutes remaining.

Mount St. Mary’s struck again as Nicole DiAngelo fed Erin LaMotte for a goal, making the score 14-8. The Mount added another goal with two minutes remaining as Keene scored her second goal of the game. McCarthy added her third goal of the game with under a minute to play to help seal the win for AU.

Kathleen Finnegan played well in goal, making eight saves while allowing eight goals. Finnegan had five ground balls as did Robyn Mincher. Brandon had four caused turnovers for AU while playing a solid game on defense. Riitano had four draw controls for the Eagles.

AU returns to Patriot League action on Saturday as the Eagles play at Lehigh at 1 p.m.

Notes: Harmsen joined Eleni Vagelatos, Brooke Morgan and AU assistant coach Ashley Flanigan as the only four players in AU history with 100 or more points … McCarthy had four ground balls in the game and only needs 13 more to break the school record for career ground balls … due to a sound system failure, both teams joined in to sing the National Anthem prior to the game.