SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's lacrosse team fell 21-11 to Gardner-Webb in the program's inaugural game on a rainy Saturday afternoon inside Gibbs Stadium. Wofford opens the 2018 season 0-1 while Gardner-Webb moves to 1-0 with the win.

Freshman Hannah Mutch, who scored the program's first goal, and junior Sophie Smith led the Terriers with three goals apiece. Juniors JoJo Franklin and Jessica Borucki each netted two goals while freshman Ava Alvarez scored one in the effort.

"Sophie and Hannah really stepped up and helped our offense, which was great to see," said head coach Ceri Miller. "We have some things to work on, but they're all fixable. We had some really great runs and never gave up, and I'm really proud of that. We have a lot of potential and I'm excited for the rest of the season."

Amanda Steinmuller put the Runnin' Bulldogs on the scoreboard first, netting her first goal of the game less just 30 seconds into the game. Shortly after, teammate Talen Francis scored unassisted to put Gardner-Webb up 2-0 before Steinmuller followed with another goal on a free position shot. Eilish Gately followed with a goal of her own to push Gardner Webb's lead to four before Mutch scored her first career goal and the team's first of the match two minutes later. Steinmuller tacked on two more goals over the next six minutes to run the lead to 6-1.

Sophie Smith scored with 17:02 left in the half on an assist from Mutch to cut the lead to 6-2, but Lindsey Lippert responded with a goal for the Runnin' Bulldogs. With just under 10 to go in the half, Franklin netted her first goal of the season to pull Wofford within four, 7-3. Lippert scored her second goal of the game on a free position shot with 9 minutes to go and a minute and a half later Steinmuller scored her fourth of the game. Jessica Borucki scored unassisted and Mutch scored on a free position shot to cut Gardner-Webb's lead to 9-5 at the half.

Out of the half, Gardner-Webb tacked on two more goals from Emily Dyment and Steinmuller, but Wofford used a 4-0 run off goals by Mutch, Franklin, Borucki and Smith to cut the lead to 11-9, Wofford's smallest deficit of the contest. Wofford added goals from Smith and Alvarez down the stretch, but the Runnin' Bulldogs used an 8-2 run over the final 13 minutes to seal the win.

Freshman Kelsey Thompson played all 60 minutes in goal for Wofford and tallied 10 saves. Mutch led Wofford with three assists, thus totaling a team high nine points in the loss. The Terriers won 18 draw controls to Gardner-Webb's 16, though Gardner-Webb outshot Wofford 42-37 and had 12 saves to Wofford's 10.

Steinmuller led Gardner-Webb with eight goals and Lippert followed with five.

Wofford's next game is Feb. 24 against Presbyterian. The game, held in Wofford's Gibbs Stadium, is set for 1 p.m.