ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University women's lacrosse team began its quest for the Colonial States Athletic Conference championship with a convincing 17-7 win over Keystone College in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Knights have now won five straight games and 10 of their last 11 contests.
 
Neumann received quality performances from the players who have carried the team all season long. Shae Risley led the team with six goals and an assist on the day, while Kaitlyn Conrad added five goals of her own. With her second goal of the game, Risley broke the 100 goal mark for her career at Neumann. Diana Caicedo also had a historic afternoon, tallying three goals and two assists to hit the 100 point mark in her career as a Knight as well. Brittany Cassidy chipped in with a goal and two assists and Lydia Beckman was excellent defensively, picking up six ground balls, three draw controls and two caused turnovers. Gabby Curry picked up the win in goal, making six saves for the Knights.
 
Neumann would waste no time establishing its dominance in the opening session. The Knights jumped on the Giants early, notching two goals from Cassidy and Risley in the first two minutes of the game to take a quick 2-0 lead.
 
The Giants responded with two straight goals to tie the game up 2-2 at the 23:16 mark of the first frame, but it would be all Neumann for the remainder of the half. Sparked by Risley's 100th career goal at the 21:05 mark, the Knights would score the game's next seven goals and outscore Keystone 8-1 the rest of the half to take a commanding 10-3 lead into halftime. Conrad was the difference maker for Neumann during the run, scoring all five of her goals in that span to help build a lead the Knights would never relinquish.
 
The Knights would continue to maintain a stranglehold on the game in the second stanza. Keystone opened the scoring in the half at the 27:48 mark to make it 10-4, but that was as close as the Giants would get. The Knights would outscore Keystone by a count of 7-3 the rest of the way to cruise to the first round playoff win. The highlight of the second half came at the 6:52 mark of the period, when Caicedo registered her third goal of the game to give her 100 points in her time as a Knight.
 
Neumann (10-8, 7-2 CSAC) heads to the CSAC semifinals flying high with five straight wins. The Knights will head to second seeded Marywood University next Wednesday, May 3rd for a matchup versus the Pacers. The game time has yet to be determined.