SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- Dominican women's lacrosse made history Thursday afternoon as they became the first NCAA DII women's lacrosse program in California to host a NCAA regular season match. The weather didn't cooperate, but the Penguins weren't going to let a little rain get in the way of their mission. Dominican opened the season with a convincing 18-7 victory over the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College.

Sophomore Stella Artukovich who was stellar last season, picked off right where she left off and collected the first points of the season for the Pengs when she took a nice pass from teammate Olivia Johnson and turned it into a missile past the goalie for the goal. Speaking of Johnson, the junior out of Washington is back and healthy after missing last season with an injury. Johnson was everywhere on the field as she finished with four assists, a couple of forced turnovers, and two goals.

Dominican's offense came out the gates strong as the first period was all Penguins scoring seven goals while stifling the Purple Knights on the other end shutting them out in the first. In the second, junior Morgan Newkirk came alive for Dominican wreaking havoc on offense. Newkirk would watch two balls find the back of the net in the second quarter, and she would end up leading the Pengs in goals with five on the day.

The offense as a whole found lots of success against the Purple Knights as four players would collect two goals each, but more impressively the Pengs ball movement was steady as lots of teammates would each other for the easy goal. Junior leader Taylor Pieri was the primary passer on the day for the Pengs as she dished out a game high six assists to go along with a couple of ground balls and two goals. Johnson was right behind her with four assists.

Dominican will be back on the field Feb. 15^th at 11 a.m. as they host Westminster University.