KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Bloomsburg came into Wednesday afternoon's PSAC East women's lacrosse game at 17th-ranked Kutztown unbeaten but the Golden Bears asserted themselves early by scoring the first nine goals and never looked back in a convincing 18-3 victory.
 
Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) and Emma Meakim (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) each had seven points to lead the Kutztown offense, with Graf providing a game-high six goals and Meakim a game-high six assists. Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) added hat tricks, while Cyrose Conteh (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) (six) and Graf (four) spearheaded a defensive performance that saw the Golden Bears (6-1, 3-0 PSAC East) match a school single-game record with 25 caused turnovers.
 
After a bit of a slow start that saw only a Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) unassisted goal over the first seven minutes, Kutztown took its offense up a notch with four more over the final 4:36 of the first quarter.
 
ElBouazzaoui netted a pair, Graf collected her second and Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) scored a player-up goal off an assist from Meakim to make it 5-0 Kutztown heading to the second.
 
The Golden Bears tacked on four more goals: one each by Katie Yocum (Hanover, Pa./South Western), Graf, Alexis Plesic (Hanover, Pa./South Western) and Lake to extend the lead to 9-0 with 4:43 remaining in the half before Bloomsburg (6-1, 2-1 PSAC East) finally broke through for its first and only goal of the half 15 seconds later.
 
Graf and Meakim answered the Huskies' goal with two more for the Maroon and Gold to make it 11-1 at the half. The Golden Bears continued to roll after the break by scoring seven unanswered for an 18-2 lead.
 
Graf, who moved into third among the program's all-time points leaders with 165, added a pair of third quarter goals --including her 30th of the season-- around one from freshman Madison Wenner (Marmora, N.J./Ocean City). Graf, a junior midfielder from Wayne, N.J., started the day tied for fourth on KU's career goal scoring list with 118 but took sole possession of that spot with a six-goal afternoon and is now just three shy of Jane Geyer for third and five back of Lisa Rawa for second.
 
Fourth quarter goals for the Bears came from Plesic, Lake, Brynn Axe (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) and ElBouazzaoui.
 
Defensively, KU smothered the Huskies from end line to end line. Kristen Nicholson's team held a 47-11 advantage in shots, limited Bloomsburg to 9-of-27 on clears and forced 25 turnovers, which were the most in a game for KU since 2009.
 
Seven players forced multiple turnovers led by Conteh's six. Graf had four, ElBouazzaoui and Kayla Brooks (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) three apiece, and Summer Davis (Beach Haven, N.J./Southern Regional), Emily Christiansen (Ledgewood, N.J./Roxbury) and Robin Spector (Northfield, N.J./Mainland Regional) two each. ElBouazzaoui and Davis picked up a game-high five ground balls as KU led that category by a sizable 38-16 margin.
 
Under duress for much of the afternoon, Bloomsburg starting goalie Lauren Foley made 16 saves in just over 52 minutes. Jenna Blesson (Sparta, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) stopped four shots over the first three quarters to pick up the win in the cage for Kutztown.
 
Winners of four straight, Kutztown will be on the road for its next three games starting with a non-conference matchup against Holy Family in Philadelphia this Saturday at noon.
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