The Aquinas women's lacrosse team welcomed Saint Mary's (Ind.) in the 2020 home opener on Friday night (Mar. 6) at the AQ Athletic Field, but the visiting Belles came away with a 20-10 victory in non-conference action. Saint Mary's pushed out to a 14-5 lead at halftime and the teams played almost even over the final 30 minutes of play, with the Belles earning their first win of the year.
 
AQ falls to 0-2 on the season, while Saint Mary's moves to 1-3 overall. The Saints – which opened the 2020 season on Wednesday (Mar. 4) at Hope – play their third game in four days on Saturday (Mar. 7), traveling to face Rochester and begin conference play at 4:00 p.m.
 
Saint Mary's opened the scoring with three goals in the first three minutes, but Aquinas responded with back-to-back goals to make it a 3-2 game. Alyssa Chartier and Lauren Sanford found the back of the net in a 14-second span to bring the Saints within a goal.
 
The Belles, however, got on a roll and scored the game's next 10 goals to open up a 13-2 cushion. A goal from Trinity Reynoso stopped the surge and Lauren Hanson added two goals in a 1:22 span to make it a 13-5 game. Saint Mary's added one final goal in the first half to take a 14-5 lead to intermission.
 
Aquinas played the Belles nearly equal in the second half, with Saint Mary's holding a slim 6-5 edge in scoring. Hansen scored twice over the final 30 minutes, Reynoso added a tally, and Katie Potter and Carli Taylor scored the first goals of their AQ careers. 
 
Hansen led the Saints with her four-goal game, scoring on all four of her shot attempts. Reynoso added a pair of goals and an assist, to go along with three groundballs. Taylor chipped in a goal and an assist, while Naomi Plant handed out a pair of assists. 
 
Chartier picked up five groundballs and Amelia Bartels tallied four groundballs. Goalkeeper Rachel McCurdy made 16 saves in net for the Saints.