DURHAM, N.H. – Rylee Leonard (Conventry, R.I.) recorded a career-high five points to propel the the University of New Hampshire's women's lacrosse team to Sunday afternoon's 15-8 victory against Iona College at Wildcat Stadium. Leonard scored two goals and matched her personal best of three assists to finish with five points; she also had three ground ball and three caused turnovers. Devan Miller (Bristol, R.I.) equaled her career high of four goals while Catherine Sexton (Niskayuna, N.Y.) notched two goals and one assist. Wildcats' goalie Issy Torres (Elmhurst, Ill.) made 10 saves. Elise Chandler (Hopkinton, Mass.) led the team in ground balls (four) and had a team-high four caused turnovers; the four CTOs marked a career high and the four GBS matched her personal best. Caroline Hernon (Hampton, N.H.) finished with a team high of six draw controls and two ground balls, while also adding two goals. Julia Neyland (Boxborough, Mass.) and Mickenzie Larivee (Amherst, N.H.) also contributed one goal and one assist apiece. Iona was led by Emma Rippon (3g), Kati Paavola (2g), Libby Miller (1g, 1a) and Christine Gironda (2a). Shannon McCaffrey made 11 saves. UNH is now 5-3 overall while Iona is now 1-8. UP NEXT UNH returns to action March 23 (12 p.m.) for the America East conference opener against the Binghamton University Bearcats at Wildcat Stadium, then the Wildcats end their three game homestand against University of Hartford on March 30 (1 p.m.). FIRST HALF Iona scored the first goal of the game at 23:16 on a shot by Rippon, assisted by Girodina. Rippon then netted a free-position goal at 20:11 to put the Gaels up 2-0. At 18:51, UNH cut the deficit to 2-1 when Leonard corralled a turnover in the neutral zone that led to Miller's fastbreak goal. Leonard scored on a bounce-shot goal at 17:17 to tie the game at 2-2, then about a minute later Miller scored to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game, 3-2, at 16:08. After UNH put in three straight goals, Iona's Mariah Metcalf came back with a goal at 10:29 to deadlock the score at 3-3. Miller scored her third goal of the game on a free position at 9:39 to give the 'Cats a 4-3 lead. Paavola netted her first goal of the game at 5:30 to once again level the score, 4-4. With 51 seconds left on the clock, Larivee finished off the feed from Sexton to put UNH up again at 5-4. SECOND HALF New Hampshire four goals the opening 4:40 after halftime to extend the advantage to 9-4. Sexton ignited the run with back-to-back goals 38 seconds apart (at 28:38 and 28:01). The second tally was from Neyland's centering pass on the left wing. Thirty-six seconds later – at 27:25 – Miller notched her fourth goal of the game off a Leonard pass to push the lead to 8-4. Leonard scored her second goal of the game at 26:20 to extend the margin to five goals, 9-4. After letting up five consecutive goals, Iona scored at 23:37 to cut its deficit to four. Leonard found Michele Smith (Wantagh, N.Y.) in the middle of the fan to reestablished a five-goal lead, 10-5, at 19:24. Hernon dodged two defenders and scored while falling down at 16:33 to put the 'Cats up six, 11-5. Iona's Gironda connected with Rippon for a second time at 15:33, followed by Paavola's goal at 14:12 to lift the Gaels within 11-7. New Hampshire called time out, and a minute later Neyland answered back by batting a loose in front of the crease into the cage. That gave UNH a 12-7 lead and fueled a three-goal run by the Wildcats. Elizabeth Blanding (Pittsford, N.Y.) struck at 10:35, which prompted the visitors to call a timeout. More than six minutes passed before Hernon scored to give the 'Cats their largest lead of the game – seven goals – of 14-7 at 4:08. Iona scored its eighth goal at 1:53, then UNH's Teagan Northrup (Longmeadow, Mass.) scored off a feed from Leonard with 47 seconds left, resulting of a final score of 15-8. UNH NOTEBOOK Miller's hot scoring touch on this chilly day extended her goal and point streaks to eight games. She has scored four goals back-to-back games and has seven consecutive multiple-goal efforts. Sexton has now scored a goal in all eight games this season. She has five multiple-goal games and multiple points in 7 of 8 games. Leonard extended her goal and point streaks to seven games; she has tallied multiple points each of those seven games and has scored multiple goals each of the last five. Northrup extended her goal streak to four games and point streak to six. Hernon matched her career highs in goals (two), points (two) and draw controls (six). In addition to a career-high five points and personal-best tying three assists, Leonard also established personal benchmarks in both ground balls (three) and draw controls (three). This was the third time this year Torres recorded 10+ saves in a game; she previously had 14 vs. Harvard and 13 at UConn. This was Neyland's first multiple-point game of the year. INSIDE THE NUMBERS UNH improved to 1-1 at home in 2019. The Wildcats recorded the edge in every statistics: shots (33-27), shots on goal (26-18), ground balls (19-15), draw controls (15-10) and turnovers (14-16). UNH scored on 1 of 6 free-position shots. The Gaels were 2-for-7. Both teams committed three turnovers on clear attempts. UNH was 18 of 21 while Iona was 16-for-19. SERIES NOTEBOOK UNH has won all three lifetime meetings against Iona. These teams had not met since the Wildcats' 12-3 road win in March 2014. New Hampshire also prevailed 16-0 at home (Memorial Field) in March 2013.