MEQUON, Wis. - The CUW women's lacrosse team took on the Marian Sabres in the first round of the NACC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

The Falcons opened the scoring with three goals.  A free-position shot by sophomore Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) tallied the first Falcon goal.  Senior Olivia Niego (La Grange, Ill.) recorded her first of the game with an assist from McCardle.  Freshman Katelyn Cardinale (Mount Laurel, N.J.) sank a pass from junior Andra Hansen (Seattle, Wash.) for the third goal of the game.

The Sabres answered with their first goal.

Junior Eliana Fuchs (Brookfield, Wis.) slotted the fourth Falcon goal on another free-position shot.

Marian cut their deficit to two with their second goal.

Niego and sophomore Natalie Mackrell (Stuttgart, Germany) sank two goals in the final 50 seconds to take a 6-2 lead heading into the second quarter.

Mackrell and Niego were the only Falcons to record points in the second quarter with back-and-forth goals from the two teams.  The Birds and the Cats headed into halftime with an 8-4, Falcon advantage.

The Falcons dominated the third quarter with all three goals.  Both Natalie Mackrell and Eliana Fuchs scored on a free-position shot for the book-end goals.  Mackrell's goal was scored with a woman advantage.  The middle goal Was scored by Kami McCardle and assisted by Katelyn Cardinale.

Eliana Fuchs and senior Grace Wilshire (Pittsburg, Pa.) opened the fourth quarter.  Fuchs scored her third free-position goal of the game.

The Sabres scored two more goals to bring their total to six.

Cardinale and Fuchs netted the final two goals for the Blue and White with Cardinale's coming off a free-position shot and Fuchs' coming from an assist by junior Anna Gong (Phoenix, Ariz.).

The Sabres scored their seventh goal with 59 seconds remaining in the game.

The Blue and White will travel to top-seeded Aurora on Saturday for the conference tournament championship matchup.