HARDEEVILLE, S.C. — The No. 5 SCAD Savannah women's lacrosse team opened the season with a hard-fought 16-14 victory over No. 6 Reinhardt University on Saturday afternoon at the SCAD Athletics Complex.
 
RECORDS: The Bees are 1-0 to start the 2026 campaign, while the Eagles fall to 0-1.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: SCAD started the scoring at the 10:32 mark with Lilah Herold found the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead. Two minutes later, Reinhardt evened out the score, but McKinsey Brown took the lead again with six minutes remaining in the first quarter.
 
Unfortunately, the Eagles scored three unanswered goals to end the first quarter up 4-2.
 
The deficit widened in the second frame, with Reinhardt outscoring the Bees 4-3 to take an 8-5 advantage into the halftime break.
 
The momentum shifted dramatically in the second half as SCAD's offense came alive. The Bees dominated the third and fourth quarters, outscoring the Eagles 11-6 in the second half.
 
A goal from Kellen Berkeley, followed by a hat trick from Brown in the third quarter knotted the game at eight-all with 5:13 remaining in the quarter. The score would be tied twice more before Reinhardt scored with 17 seconds remaining on the clock to go up 11-10 heading into the final quarter.
 
Back-to-back goals from K. Berkeley and Brown, gave the Bees their first lead of the game (12-11) to start the fourth quarter. Both teams traded goals back and forth, tying it at 12-12, 13-13 and 14-14 before Brown put the game away, scoring the last two goals of the quarter, giving SCAD the 16-14 win.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: McKinsey Brown led the offensive charge, scoring a game-high eight goals, while Kellen Berkeley added three goals and one assist.
 
Ellen Benintendi and Annise Berkeley totaled two goals each, with Benintendi tallying one assist, while Lilah Herold had one goal and one assist. Benintendi had a game-high 15 draw controls.
 
Olivia Torline tied a game high three caused turnovers, while A. Berkeley, Rylen Gray, Riley O'Keefe, and Kinsey Shoemaker totaled one each.
 
Goalies Lorna Fowles and Chloe Zundel both spent time in the cage, with Zundel totaling five saves, and Fowles one.
 
WHAT'S NEXT? The Bees will travel to Rome, Ga. to face NCAA DII Shorter University on Friday, February 13, at 5:00 p.m.