BUCKHANNON – It was a home-opener thriller for the West Virginia Wesleyan Lady Bobcat lacrosse team against Nyack College here Saturday afternoon at Ross Field.

Wesleyan led by a 10-5 score midway through the second half before hanging on for a 10-9 victory.

The win improved the Lady Bobcats to 5-1 overall.

"It was great to finally be home," remarked Wesleyan head coach Karli Brentlinger. "With the rainy conditions, it was nice to play on the new turf as well."

The Lady 'Cats played their first five games on the road.

Jessica Hardman (pictured) scored the game's first goal just 82 seconds in with the assist going to Emily Noel.

Taylor Holmes provided the next goal four minutes later to treat Wesleyan to a 2-0 lead.

Hardman squeezed a goal in between two Nyack scores, but Natalie Schaffner tallied a goal with 6:17 left in the first half and Hannah Antonelli scored with 50 seconds remaining to give the Lady Bobcats a 5-2 lead.

Wesleyan took that 5-2 lead into the break.

Hardman scored just 43 seconds into the second half to up the Wesleyan lead to 6-2.

Nyack scored two straight but Hardman found the back of the net at the 21:55 mark to make it a 7-4 contest.

Nyack tacked on one more before Wesleyan scored three straight, getting two goals by Hardman and one by Kim Lubic.

That gave Wesleyan their 10-5 lead with 16:23 left in the contest.

Nyack scored the last four goals, but Wesleyan wouldn't allow a game-tying goal.

Hardman led all scorers with six goals.

"Hardman is our go-to-player," Brentlinger said. "When we need a goal, we know we can turn to her."

Wesleyan owned a 25-22 advantage in shots and a 20-18 lead in shots-on-goal.

Wesleyan goalie Lexi Swisher (5-1) made nine saves in the victory.

Nyack owned a 14-4 advantage in draw controls.

Wesleyan was guilty of 10 turnovers while Nyack committed 13.

Wesleyan will have little time to rest as they host Edinboro (Pa.) tomorrow at 1 p.m.