With each game that passes, the Dragons seem to get a little bit better.

For a team that had just 2 wins in 2010, Tiffin University's women's lacrosse team is learning what it takes to put together a winning program one game at a time. With Tuesday's 18-15 win over visiting Lake Erie, the Dragons posted their third straight win to improve to 3-2 overall.

After posting narrow wins on the road against Lees-McRae and Erskine, Tiffin wanted to make a statement in their return home. They quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead and continued to dictate the tempo by controlling the draws and the ground balls en route to a 9-6 halftime lead.

But it was after the intermission that the Dragons threatened to turn the game into a blowout, as they tallied three goals in the first 1:02 of the second half to jump out to a 12-6 lead. They continued to keep play in the offensive end and expanded their lead to 15-8 with 20 minutes remaining.


Led by Taylor DeMaio's strong play on the draw, TU held a 24-12 edge in draws and also compiled a 29-16 lead in ground balls. Only 20 TU turnovers kept the door open for the Storm, who managed to cut the deficit to just three goals with 9:58 to play.

Tiffin, which nearly squandered leads in both of their last two games, showed patience offensively and did not panic, avoiding costly turnovers over the next 7 minutes before tallying two more goals and effectively putting the game away with 2:30 left to play.

Melissa Cooper had a huge game, tying a single game record by scoring 6 goals and totaling 4 more assists for another single game record 10 points. Alexandria Quast had 5 goals with 2 assists, and Elyse Braun contributed 2 goals and 3 assists. Kelley Miller had 3 goals, while Emily DeMartino also had 2 goals.

Madeline Kane played 60 minutes in goal, making 8 saves, including 5 in the first half to help preserve the Dragons' lead.

TU's 18 goals also sets a new single game record for goals scored.