With a 15-11 victory, the St. Andrews women's lacrosse team came out swinging in the first round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament Wednesday, going ahead of visiting Queens College 2-0 to begin the game and keeping the Royals at arm's length for the remainder.

Kerrie Brown provided a game-high six goals for the Knights, with most coming at times when Queen's seemed to be creeping back into the game.

After jumping out to a 5-1 advantage with 16 minutes left in the first half, the Royals battled back to within two goals at 7-5 before the Knights stepped on the gas to enter the half up 8-5.

Queens would find themselves within two goals twice more, last with 20 minutes to be played, but the Knights refused to let the game get too close.

By the 13 minute mark St. Andrews was enjoying a 14-8 advantage, and any questions about the final result had been answered.

The fourth seeded Knights were led in points by Kelsey Binggeli, who notched seven in the winning effort.

Shannon Casey led the Queen's attack with three goals.

St. Andrews goalkeeper Eryn McCaffrey was solid at the back all day, with 12 saves -- seven of which came in the game's final half-hour.

Brown, with two more points, will become the Knights first 100-point scorer in a season.

Others scoring goals for the Knights were Cara Manas, Alexis Goldman, Kim McDaniel, Courtney Ross and Katie Wright.

At 11-7 overall the Knights will enter the tournament semi-final against top-seeded Limestone College on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.