WASHINGTON D. C. – The West Virginia Wesleyan women's lacrosse season opener was delayed a week because of the inclement weather, but the delay was worth the wait.

The Lady Bobcats battled the University of the District of Columbia Firebirds today in the regular-season opener for both teams, and it was a one-sided affair dominated by Wesleyan.

Wesleyan won their opener in convincing fashion with a 20-1 victory over the Firebirds.

"Today's win sets the pace for what we hope is to be our best season yet," remarked head coach Karli Brentlinger. "We came out strong and distributed the ball well on attack." 

The game was played at Georgetown University's Multi Sports Field.

The game was delayed about 20 minutes so crews could plow the turf field. The game was played in the middle of an ice storm and freezing rain.

"The girls sticks were coated in a layer of ice," stated Brentlinger.

Six Lady Bobcats had multi-goal games.

Jessica Hardman (pictured) and Kim Lubic led Wesleyan with four goals apiece while Natalie Schaffner, Taylor Holmes, Hannah Antonelli and Emily Noel each had three goals.

Holmes had the first goal of the season, just two minutes into the game to get the Lady Bobcats off and running.

Wesleyan led at the intermission by an 11-1 score.

The Lady Bobcats tacked on nine more goals in the second half while keeping UDC off the board in that period.

Wesleyan outshot UDC by a 34-7 margin and owned a 30-4 margin in shots-on-goal.

Wesleyan goalie Lexi Swisher turned away three shots in the win.

Wesleyan (1-0) will return to action this Saturday when they visit Erskine (S.C.).

The contest will begin at 2 p.m

"We are super excited to show everyone what we are capable of this year," concluded Brentlinger. "This team has come so far in the past three years that I have been here and we are finally putting it all toghether on the field. It was a sold team effort today and we are looking forward to a great season."