MADISON, N.J. – In an afternoon laden with goal-scoring, the FDU-Florham women's lacrosse team prevailed 24-17 over Wilkes University in both team's Freedom Conference openers on Thursday afternoon at Robert T. Shields Field.

FDU-Florham (6-3, 1-0 Freedom) junior attack Brianna Capobianco (Williston Park, N.Y.) led the offensive outburst with a career-high six goals in the victory. The third-year attack was as efficient as possible and buried each of her six shot attempts. Not to be outdone, sophomore Noelle Shirey (Pine Beach, N.J.) also set a career-mark with five goals on five attempts in the victory.

The 24 goals and 37 shots are both season-highs for the Devils, who have now won games in a row, while the loss snaps a seven-game winning streak for Wilkes.

Early on, it appeared that this would be a tightly-contested battle through the final whistle, however, the Devils offense had other plans. After Capobianco put the Devils in front 2-1 with her first goal of the afternoon, the Lady Colonels (8-2, 0-1 Freedom) scored four-unanswered goals to stake a 5-2 advantage with 17:29 to play in the opening half.

Less than a minute later, Capobianco began the surge for FDU-Florham with an unassisted strike. The junior's goal set off a stretch of seven-straight Devils' scores, which turned the tables once and for all.

Senior Courtney Rendinaro (Hillsborough, N.J.) netted her 24^th goal of the season, then, Joelle Manganella (Kenvil, N.J.) scored a short-handed goal, which pulled the Devils even at 5-5.

With 11:19 to go in the first half, Frances Maggio (Bound Brook, N.J.) put the home team in front for good with her fifth goal of the campaign.

Shirey, Manganella, and McGinley would all score before Wilkes' Madeleine Brownsey  finally ended the run with 2:56 to go in the opening stanza.

Leading 10-6, the Devils continued to pile on the offense and added three goals in the final minute of the half with Shirey netting one and Capobianco tallying two.

FDU-Florham entered the break with a 13-6 lead and outshot the Lady Colonels 20-12 over the first 30 minutes of play.

The two teams continued to find the back of the net frequently in the second half and played to an even 11-11 draw, resulting in the seven-goal win for the Devils.

Sophomore midfielder Brienna Reasoner (Flemington, N.J.) was all over the field and filled up the statsheet with four goals, nine draw controls, four ground balls and a caused turnover, while Manganella and Rendinaro each netted hat tricks and combined for seven assists in the high-scoring victory.

Brownsey scored a game-high eight goals for Wilkes and now has 52 scores on the season, while Carley Smith and Tori Kerr each scored three times in the loss.

The Devils return to action tomorrow, April 3, when they host Ramapo College in a make-up of this past Tuesday's snow cancellation at 3:30 p.m.