SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- Dominican women's lacrosse (3-0, 1-0) hosted conference foe University of Charleston Sunday afternoon in the battle of the birds. Penguins versus Golden Eagles. Graduate student Ryan Bionda led the way offensively for Dominican collecting a game high four goals as the black and gold dropped Charleston 13-10.

Just like any conference battle, this game was close throughout. Morgan Newkirk, the San Diego native, got the scoring started for the Pengs when she received a nice dish from Bionda and capitalized by finding the back of the net. Newkirk would finish the game right behind Bionda with three goals. Then a couple possessions later it was junior Alayna Cipolla taking advantage of a man-up situation and put one past the goalie for Dominican's second point of the afternoon.

After one quarter of play, the game was tied at three. Fellow San Diego native Stella Artukovich posted the first points for the black and gold in the second when she found a soft spot in the
Golden Eagles defense and fired one past the goalie for her fourth goal of the season. Towards the end of the second quarter Bionda started to give Charleston's defense fits as she called her own number multiple times. She would end the second scoring with 23 seconds left on the clock to tie the game back up at six.

The Penguins would use halftime to regroup and refocus, and they did just that. They would open the third by going on a 4-0 run which was all started by sophomore Piper Mott scooping up the draw controls. Mott, the Washington native, would finish the game with a game high 13 draw controls. Olivia Johnson would orchestrate the Dominican offense on this run as she dished out two assists while collecting a goal of her own taking advantage of another man-up opportunity.

In the second half the black and gold did a better job of making life tough for the Golden Eagles. Elke Moerkeseth, the junior leader on the back end for the Pengs, came up with a game high four caused turnovers. Fellow defender Sienna Prak-Perry shutdown the Golden Eagles on the other side while also collecting a game high 5 ground balls.

In the fourth when Charleston was gaining a little momentum, the Pengs called on what was working all day. Bionda would score Dominican's last two goals of the day to clinch the conference victory for the good birds, the Penguins.

The black and gold will be back on the field March. 3^rd to square off against Saginaw Valley State at 3 p.m.