The Fresno State women's lacrosse team defended its home turf in the season opener, edging UMass Lowell, 14-12, on Sunday at Bulldog Stadium. Freshman midfielder Sydney Skalstad led the Bulldogs in scoring with four goals on the day in her collegiate debut, while junior midfielder Marina Mayo was a key distributor, dishing out three assists to go with two goals. "I thought it was a really big team effort, which was great," said coach Jessica Giglio. "I think a lot of the things that we did in our game plan to prepare us for this game allowed our team as a whole to succeed. We did a really great job in the ride. I was very proud with the amount of attackers that stepped up and finished for us." Fresno State improves to 1-0 on the season after winning its fourth consecutive season opener. "I think making sure that we finish things out is something we've talked about, but actually seeing it through is something I'm very proud. One thing we really wanted to improve from last year to this year was eliminating fouls, and I think we did a really good job with that today." Skalstad, Mayo, Hannah Krats, Kayla Galet, Tiffiniy Wallace, Ryleigh Bone, Olivia Mannon, Abbigayle Roberts, Alex Romanowski, Jordyn Pandolfo and Kayle Kaesbauer chalked the start for Fresno State, with Laurel Maunder in the box. FIRST HALF UMass Lowell's Kristina Keith got the River Hawks on board first, finding the back of the net just two and a half minutes into the game. Hannah Rose followed that with another goal a minute later, putting the River Hawks up, 2-0. Fresno State's Bone scored the first goal for the Bulldogs on the season minutes later, bringing them within one. UMass Lowell responded though, adding three consecutive goals to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Fresno State cut the deficit back to two shortly after with goals from Galet and Chalifoux, but UMass Lowell's Cameron McKelvin added her second goal of the day to put the River Hawks up, 6-3. The 'Dogs closed the gap once again with goals by Wallace and Mayo, but UMass Lowell kept its distance with Kristina Keith's third goal of the day, leading 7-5 with 14 minutes to go in the half. Fresno State evened things up for the first time since the early in the first half with a pair of goals from Wallace and Skalstad, but again, the River Hawks responded as McKelvin scored her third and fourth goals on the day. The 'Dogs would draw near again with Skalstad's second goal, but McKelvin would put UMass Lowell ahead by two with her fifth goal of the half. The final three minutes were all Fresno State as Skalstad fired her third and fourth consecutive goals of the half, bringing the score to 10 all at the end of the first half. SECOND HALF Both defenses tightened up in the second half as neither team scored half as many goals as they did in the first. The River Hawks broke the ice with an early goal, but Mayo squared up the score at 11 apiece with a goal of her own. After eight scoreless minutes, Krats found the back of the net to give Fresno State its first lead of the game. Minutes later, Chalifoux gave the 'Dogs a two-goal cushion with her second goal of the game. An even longer scoring drought saw 11 minutes pass, but the River Hawks broke the spell, bringing the Bulldog lead down to 13-12 with just five minutes remaining. That would prove to be as close as the River Hawks would get as Wallace put the finishing touch on the game by scoring her third goal of the day with eight seconds remaining, setting up the final score of Fresno State 14, UMass Lowell 12. NOTABLE STATS As a team, Fresno State's biggest advantage came from penalty opportunities. The 'Dogs took 11 free-position shots, converting six of them, while the River Hawks took five, converting two. On offense, Skalstad not only led the 'Dogs in scoring, but each of her four debut goals were scored consecutively to close out the first half. Those four goals were the most for a freshman since teammate Wallace had the same count against Saint Mary's in 2017. Skalstad's four were also the most in a freshman debut since Wallace's four against LIU Brooklyn in 2017. Wallace was the second-leading scorer for Fresno State with three goals on the day. On defense, junior attacker Jordyn Pandolfo was all over the field, notching eight draw controls and scooping two ground balls. Pandolfo's eight draw controls mark her tied for second in Fresno State history in draw controls for a single game, only trailing teammate Mannon, who tallied nine against Radford last season. Maunder controlled the net for the 'Dogs from start to finish, making nine saves. Mayo did it all for the 'Dogs, scoring two goals and adding three assists while also blocking four shots and causing two turnovers. WHAT'S NEXT Fresno State will travel to Las Vegas for a pair of neutral-site games against Pac-12 opponents. The Bulldogs will face Cal at 4 p.m. PT on Friday, then take on Oregon at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday.