KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The first ever home women's lacrosse game at MacKenzie Field ended in a 17-2 loss to Keuka College (N.Y.) on Saturday.
Keuka jumped out to an early lead with the first five goals of the contest.
Kalamazoo got on the board 13 minutes into the contest with Anika Sproull's 18th goal of the season.
The visiting Storm scored four more goals to go up 9-1 before Kalamazoo's Anna Dariaghi scored her fifth goal of the season with 5:59 left in the half to make it a 9-2 game going into halftime.
Keuka scored eight times in the second half to make it a 17-2 final.
"It was a hard loss today, but the team is learning a lot," said Kalamazoo Head Coach Emilia Ward. "We have been playing some tough competition and Keuka was an NCAA tournament team last year and a good example of where we are trying to be."
The Storm outshot the Hornets 29-8 overall while holding slight advantages in ground balls (28-22) and draw controls (12-9).
Sproull and Cooperrider each picked up six ground balls while Sproull had a team-best two draw controls.
Kalamazoo hosts Saint Mary's in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association opener on Wednesday, April 2 at 7 p.m.
"Keuka is physical and it was good preparation for our players learning how physical they need to be and how hard they have to work offensively and defensively to make things work," Ward added.
"We played hard all the way to the end so we will keep pushing ahead and look forward to starting a new chapter with conference play beginning on Wednesday."