WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Palm Beach Atlantic women's lacrosse team opened play in the Sunshine State Conference this afternoon by facing Rollins College. The No. 10 ranked Tars proved too be to much for the Sailfish as they pulled away after a competitive opening half to win 19-5. The loss drops the Sailfish to 2-6 on the season and 0-1 in SSC play.

The Tars came out of the gates fast and jumped on PBA as they opened the first quarter on a 5-0 scoring run. Despite PBA controlling the draw controls early on in the game, the Tars were able to outshoot the 'Fish 11-3 in the opening quarter of play, scoring on eight of those attempts. Anna Laskaris was the one to break the nearly ten-minute scoring drought for the Sailfish and Kelly Lyons followed up with a goal of her own to trim the deficit to three. However, the Tars scored the next three goals of the period before a Kaelin DeNeui goal second before the quarter expired made it 8-3.

The two sides played a close second quarter as Laksaris scored her second of the game early in the second quarter. Kiki Cinotti added another goal at the nine-minute mark but that was all of the offense that the Sailfish could muster for the quarter. Defensively, they improved allowing just three Rollins goals and limited them to six shots but trailed 11-5 at the half.

The Sailfish seemed to run out of gas in the second half, as the Tars were able to keep the majority of the possession for the final 30 minutes of play. PBA was outshot 16-3 in the second half and was held scoreless while the Tars five in the third and three in the fourth to claim the 19-5 win. 

Laskaris was once again the leader offensively for the 'Fish as she scored her 15th and 16th goals of the season to lead the team. Goalie Courtney Rausch was able to make six saves on the day while the Tars outshot PBA 33-10. Chelsea Smith was solid for the Sailfish as the main draw control taker, leading PBA to taking 14-of-27 and Smith gathering a game-high six on her own. 

The Tars showed why they had the best scoring defense in the SSC today, but the Sailfish will look to get back on track on April 6 when they head to Melbourne to face Florida Tech. The Panthers are 7-1 on the season and 0-1 in SSC play.