The Navy women's lacrosse team (3-1) opened up a 13-goal first-half lead en route to a decisive 20-4 victory over Liberty (1-4) on Saturday at Liberty Lacrosse Field in Lynchburg, Virginia.

"Our focus this week was trying to clean up silly mistakes and to generate transition and assisted goals and I think we did a good job of that against Liberty," Navy head coach Cindy Timchal said. "We were able to generate the offense the way we did by having a strong effort on the defensive end by creating turnovers and give our offense a chance to score."

Navy generated its fourth-straight 10-plus goal game in 2017 by recording a season-best 16 caused turnovers. Junior Blake Smith and sophomore Marie Valenti both tallied a game-high three caused turnovers.

Junior Julia Collins continued to give opposing defenses fits, recording her third five-plus point performance with a career-best seven points on five goals and two assists. Sophomore Meg O'Donnell tied teammate Julia Collins' team-high performance with a career-best seven points on five goals and two assists, as well. Senior Morgan Young posted her third hat trick of the year and 14th of her career, tallying five points on four goals and one assist.

Junior Jenna Collins extended her point streak to 15 games, dating back to last season. During her streak, Collins has recorded at least three points in all 15 contests, which includes seven hat tricks.

Navy's offense wasted no time, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first 5:17. Julia Collins led the charge with two goals, while freshman Kelly Larkin tallied two points on one goal and one assist.

Liberty cut the deficit to three, 5-2, with 23:06 left in the half. Paige Britton and Kayla Foster scored on back-to-back possessions.

The Mids, then, went on a 10-0 run in the final 21:55 of the half to build a 13-goal lead, 15-2. O'Donnell sparked the run with the first two goals of the run before Julia Collins recorded a natural hat trick in a span of 5:15. O'Donnell then collected her final three goals of the game over a stretch of 9:21.

Navy continued its dominance in the second half, scoring the first three goals over a 6:28 span. Young tallied the final two goals of her four goals during the run.

Liberty's Hannah Quast tallied back-to-back goals to help the Lady Flames cut the deficit to 14, 18-4 with 11:15 remaining.

Navy freshmen Carley Seekamp and Caitlin Blanche (South River) each tallied their first career goals.

Junior Ingrid Boyum tallied four saves on six chances in 40:44 for the win in net. Teammates Gab Harchelroad, Autumn Koh and Vicotria LaVeck combined for one save on three chances in the final 19:16.

Navy continues its two-game road trip with a Wednesday matchup against George Washington.

NAVY @ GEORGE WASHINGTON

Wednesday, 3 p.m.

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First-half dominance helps Navy cruise past Liberty, 20-4 - CapitalGazette.com