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Lisa Schaaf and Emily Burton scored three goals apiece, but defense was the story in the American University women's lacrosse team's 10-4 victory over Davidson on Sunday afternoon at Jacobs Field.

Both offenses struggled early on until American (6-9) got on the scoreboard first with a Schaaf strike 6:35 into the game off a feed from Burton. Less than a minute later, Maeve Koch gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead with Amanda Makoid picking up the assist. Schaaf and Makoid followed with a pair of unassisted goals over the next four-plus minutes to push the Eagles' lead to 4-0 with 18:04 to play in the first half.

Davidson (6-8) cut its deficit to 4-1 with an Erin McGuire conversion before American's Burton knocked home a free position shot at the 7:04 mark to extend AU's lead back to four, 5-1.

The Eagles took a 5-1 advantage into halftime, and put the game out of reach early in the second half by converting the first four goals of the period, giving them a 9-1 lead. Schaaf scored the first goal during the run, which was followed by scores off the sticks of Burton, Emily Stankiewicz and Chiara Speziale. Samantha Marshall also picked up two assists during the stretch.

The Wildcats kept fighting in the middle of the second half, scoring three straight goals to get within five, 9-4, with 10:21 to play. But American was able to preserve its lead with Burton registering the final score of the day with 1:25 remaining to set the final margin of victory at 10-4.

Schaaf, a senior, matched her career-best with her three scores while Burton's three goals and four points were a new career-high for the freshman. Defensively, Emma Larkin led the Eagles with four caused turnovers and chipped in three groundballs, while Stankiewicz recorded team-highs with four groundballs and three draw controls.

Frankie Solomon played all 60 minutes in net for American, allowing a career-low four goals and recording seven saves. In fact, the four goals allowed are the fewest for AU since May 1, 2004, when the Eagles defeated Bucknell, 17-3, in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals.

Additionally, prior to the game, American's five senior student-athletes – Koch, Makoid, Alyssa Romano, Schaaf and Solomon – were honored in a Senior Day ceremony.

The Eagles will return to action on Saturday, April 24 when they travel to Worcester, Mass., to face off against Patriot League foe Holy Cross. With a win, American will earn a berth into the four-team Patriot League Tournament, which will be contested at the site of the regular season champion from April 30-May 2.