DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Zariah Dunham scored a career-high five goals to lead the 24^th-ranked Embry-Riddle women's lacrosse team past Flagler (3-3) on Wednesday. The Eagles defeated the Saints 20-10 and are off to the best start in program history at 4-0 on the year.
 
Nine different women netted goals for the Blue and Gold with Alexa Zeruto (4), Murphy McDonough (3) and Elizabeth Ninesling (3) joining Durham with multi-goal performances.
 
As a team, the Eagles won the draw 20-13, with eight draw controls going to Sallie Squire, and bested the Saints 32-20 in shots, with 25 of those shots going between the pipes.
 
Flagler got on the board first at the 12:59 mark courtesy of Jordan Shugrue's first of five goals. That was the Saints' first and last lead of the evening, however, as McDonough tied the score at 1-1 less than a minute later. At the 6:10 mark, Ninesling broke a five-minute scoring drought for both teams with a man-up, free position goal. After that score, the Eagles added three more goals to their tally to take a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
As was the case in the first period, the Saints scored the first goal of the second. Again, the Eagles answered, but the second 15 minutes were more even than the first as the Eagles managed just one more goal than the Saints to take a 9-4 lead at the half.
 
The third quarter was where the Eagles put the game out of reach. A pair of quick goals by Zeruto to start the period put the Saints back on their heels. The visitors were forced to defend for most of the frame as the Eagles outscored Flagler 9-2 to take a 12-goal (18-6) lead into the final quarter.
 
Following an Anna Maurer goal at the 14:14 mark, the Saints rattled off three straight goals to make it a 19-10 game with 4:03 left to play. But the Eagles dug in on defense and prevented the Saints from adding to their tally to preserve the win.
 
The Eagles are back on the field at 5 p.m. on Saturday to host No. 17 Seton Hill at the ERAU Lacrosse Stadium.