MIAMI Gardens, Fla. (February 13, 2024) - Rain showers in the morning, bright sun in the afternoon and a chilly evening, February in Florida is here and so is the St. Thomas Women's Lacrosse team (0-1). The newly receiving votes Bobcats are back out on AutoNation Field, officially starting their 2024 campaign. The season opener invited conference guest No. 3 Keiser to Miami Gardens. St. Thomas fell to the Seahawks by a score of 20-8.

Keiser got the first goal on the board knocking one in just 52 seconds into the game. St. Thomas quickly responded as non-other than sophomore Kaitlyn Chmelir put her first one in the back of the net. Chmelir led the team last year in goals with 39 and is trending in the right direction to do the same this season.

The Seahawks went on to score six unanswered goals to close out the first quarter at 7-1. St. Thomas had that run end starting the second quarter with Chmelir's second goal of the game off a dish from Jorja Schooler.

The first nine minutes were evenly scored at 3-3 as STU was fighting to stay in it. Chmelir secured her first hat trick of the season 20 minutes into the contest. HeavenLee Nichols got her first Bobcat goal with 6:26 remaining in the second quarter. Keiser took a 13-4 lead into the half.

In the third quarter, Keiser scored early putting the running clock into effect. St. Thomas would not go down without a fight going on a three goal run of their own as three different Bobcats scored. Nichols initiated the stop of the Seahawks run. E'Mya Miller and Kylie Lubrant then tacked on their first goals of the year as STU brought it within nine at 16-7.

Chmelir picked up her fourth goal of the game to end the third quarter. Both teams were even with four goals in the quarter.

The lead would be too much for STU to work back from as Keiser tacked on three more in the fourth and would take the contest. STU's defense had more ground balls and caused turnovers than Keiser at 22-19 and 11-8, respectively.

Up Next

St. Thomas will return to AutoNation Field on Sunday, February 18 to take on Reinhardt at 1 p.m.

-STU-