BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College women's lacrosse team opened 2017 with a victory, holding down Methodist 8-3 on Friday at the Jopson Athletic Complex.

Claire Palermo-Re, Kristen Stark and Annie Sullivan scored twice each for the hosts, while senior Brittney Brown had game-highs with four ground balls and four caused turnovers.

Methodist took the opening draw and worked the ball around for 90 seconds, ultimately shooting high on the first attempt of the afternoon. They retained possession and struck first with a free position shot by Sareena Coleman.

The Eagles answered with an Anna O'Hara eight-meter goal, and then took their first lead of the season on a nice drive by Yashinskie.

Methodist had appeared to tie the game at 2-all but the goal was called off due to a foot in the crease.

After an MU foul 10 minutes into the half, Stark weaved through the defense on the restart and scored for a 3-1 lead.

Stark would add a free position goal later in the first half. At the other end, the Bridgewater defense locked the Monarchs down the rest of the period, allowing just two shots on target and no more goals in taking a 5-1 lead into the break.

Yashinskie's second FPA goal of the game gave the Eagles a 6-1 lead with 24:16 remaining in the contest. Less than a minute later Sullivan hit the post on another eight-meter shot.

Methodist finally got their second with under 20 minutes remaining but the Eagles countered quickly in transition and O'Hara found Palermo-Re all alone at the left post to make it 7-2.

Sullivan capped Bridgewater's scoring, with freshman Shannon Rogers providing the assist for her first career point.

Bridgewater goalie Rachel Gruber (six saves) stopped an eight-meter by Lindsay Earles with three minutes remaining and ended the game by catching a high shot from Sarah Ewin.

The visiting Monarchs (1-1 on the year) got six draw controls and four ground balls from Monti Hendrix, while Madison Ronelli scored her team-leading fifth goal late in the contest.

The Eagles (1-0) get a win in their first game under new head coach Colleen Shearer, and will play at home again on March 1 vs. Hood College.