MINNEAPOLIS -- Rallying from an early deficit and outscoring its opponents by a 13-3 margin in the second half, the Augsburg University women's lacrosse team opened Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference play with an 18-6 win over Wartburg College on Sunday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 18, Wartburg (Iowa) 6
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 1-1 overall (1-0 MWLC), Wartburg 0-1 overall (0-1 MWLC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Wartburg built a 3-1 lead in the first 20 minutes of play, forcing Augsburg to use a timeout to regroup. After the timeout, the Auggies exploded, scoring four goals in the final 9:29 of the first half and taking a 6-3 lead 15 seconds into the second half. The Auggies poured it on from there, outscoring the Knights 13-3 in the second half to claim the win in the conference-opener for both teams.
• Helena Nguyen (SR, Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) led the way for the Auggies, scoring five goals, including two free-position goals, while adding two ground balls and a caused turnover. It's Nguyen's seventh game with five or more goals in her collegiate career.
• Christina Nelson (SO, Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) recorded her first career three-goal game, adding a team-best seven draw controls, five ground balls and five caused turnovers. Delaney Everett (SR, Brooklyn Center, Minn./Champlin Park HS) also had a solid all-around game, scoring two free-position goals while adding five draw controls, five caused turnovers and three ground balls.
• Mikayla Knudson (SO, Zimmerman, Minn./Elk River HS) scored two goals with two assists, adding three draw controls and two caused turnovers, and Ellie Tabaka (FY, Maplewood, Minn./Tartan HS) scored twice with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.
• Playing in her first collegiate game, Madison Valiant (FY, Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee HS) scored three goals with an assist, and Allie Tuccitto (FY, Rosemount, Minn./Eastview HS) scored a goal with two assists, two ground balls and two caused turnovers.
• Goalie Marissa Guillou (SR, Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley HS) had six saves, to go along with a ground ball, to pick up the victory.
• Augsburg outshot Wartburg by a 34-20 margin in the game, including a 25-7 advantage in the second half. Augsburg had 32 ground balls to Wartburg's 20, and had 17 draw controls to Wartburg's eight.

FOR THE FOES
• Bri Greiskains scored two goals with three caused turnovers, two draw controls and two ground balls to lead Wartburg. Ashlyn Jelinek, Sierra Lovato, Allie Stahmer and Alex Pollock also scored goals, with Pollock adding an assist.
• Laura Sinkovitz had eight saves in goal, while adding seven ground balls. Kyra Saragaglia had three caused turnovers and three ground balls.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg is idle until Spring Break week, when it plays three games in Southern California, facing Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) on March 12 at 1 p.m., Redlands (Calif.) on March 14 at 9 p.m, and Whittier (Calif.) on March 15 at 7 p.m. (all times Central time).
• Wartburg travels to face Hollins (Va.) on March 6 at 4 p.m.