EDWARDSVILLE – Visiting Old Westbury broke open a three-point game at the half outscoring host Wilkes University 6-1 over the final 30 minutes on way to a 13-5 victory Thursday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium.
 
Wilkes dropped to 1-4 overall following its second straight home loss while Old Westbury improved to 1-2 on the season.
 
Old Westbury struck first when Halle Johnson scored unassisted on a man-up opportunity three minutes into the game after Sierra Duman (Smyrna, DE/Smyrna) was given a yellow card. Ashley Burkhardt (Havre de Grace, MD/Havre de Grace) tied the game two minutes later taking a pass from Jessyca Held (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) and finding the back of the net for her seventh goal of the season.
 
Held gave Wilkes its first lead of the game at the 20:56 mark of the first half when she scored off an assist from Kyra Boccio (Dingmans Ferry, Pa./Delaware Valley). Old Westbury answered back with a goal from Rachel Phillips tying the game at 2-2 with 18:01 left in the half.
 
The back-and-forth scoring continued through the next five minutes as Held notched her second of the game and Taylor Guarneri answered back for Old Westbury as the score remained tied at 3-3 with 11:10 left until the break.
 
Phillips put the visitors ahead 4-3 with 10:08 remaining when she scored off an assist from Danielle Weir. The lead grew to 5-3 three minutes later when Yaritza Caraballo took a pass from Isnardi Cameron and scored 1v1 from five feet away.
 
Held cut into the Old Westbury lead completing her hat trick with 6:41 left in the half thanks to an assist from Boccio. Boccio's second helper on the day put her at 100 points for her career.
 
Phillips reached the three-goal mark in the game with 3:50 on the clock again off a pass from Weir to up the lead back to 6-4. Guarneri added one more tally for Old Westbury before the half ended to give the visitors a 7-4 advantage at the break.
 
Old Westbury began the scoring one minute into the second half taking its largest lead of the contest up 8-4. Boccio stopped the rally with her first goal of the game off a free position attempt with 25:33 on the clock.
 
Boccio's goal proved to be the final strike for Wilkes as Old Westbury scored the game's final five goals over a 22-minute stretch to seal the non-conference road victory, its first win of 2018.
 
Held led the way offensively for Wilkes finishing with four points on three goals and one assist. Boccio followed with three points on one goal and two assists while Burkhardt added the final Wilkes tally on the day.
 
Sarah Carlini (Collegeville, PA/Pope John Paul II) finished with 14 saves playing all 60 minutes in net for Wilkes. Ashley Gugliuzzo made 10 stops to record the win for Old Westbury.
 
Wilkes returns to the field Saturday traveling to Newburgh, N.Y. for a matchup against Mount Saint Mary College at 1:00 p.m.