HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- Houghton women's lacrosse turned in a strong defensive performance in an 8-4 win over Cazenovia on Wednesday at Burke Field.

It took nearly 14 minutes before either team could get a shot into net. Jennifer Zacchigna (East Aurora, NY, East Aurora ) tallied an unassisted goal at the 16:26 mark to put Houghton on the board first. It wasn't for lack of trying, as three Highlander shots made it past the Wildcat keeper only to clang off the post.

The Wildcats had their own bad luck just three minutes after Zacchigna's goal, ringing a shot off Houghton's goal post. The Highlanders broke through with one more goal before the half, with Torri Sperl (Saugerties, NY, Saugerties) getting credit off an assist from Chandler Jones (Collegeville, PA, Spring-Ford).

Houghton outshot Cazenovia, 16-7, over the first 30 minutes.

Sperl gave the Highlanders a three-goal cushion just 25 seconds into the second half. And after the Wildcats broke Houghton's chance of a shutout with their first goal at the 27:58 mark, Jones got into the scoring column to make it 4-1 with 22:53 left.

Cazenovia pulled to within 4-2 less than a minute later, but the Highlanders went on a 4-0 run over an eight-minute span to go up 8-2. Zacchigna got the rally started with her second of the night, Meghan Oswald (Penn Yan, NY, Marcus Whitman) scored the next two, before Jones finished the scoring with her second of the game with 7:58 left. The Wildcats scored the final two goals of the contest, the last coming with just 35 seconds on the clock.

Kourtnie Franklin (Belfast, NY, Belfast) made six saves in net as the Highlanders outshot the Wildcats 29-12.

Zacchigna finished with six groundballs and two caused turnovers. Oswald four draw controls, while Alyssa Strom (Tonawanda, NY, Sweet Home) had six ground balls, four caused turnovers and three draw controls. Jones had two assists to go along with her two goals.

Houghton (2-2) is back in action on Saturday, March 19 when they travel to take on Oswego State.