Box Score Box Score
Scranton, Pa. – Marywood University's eight-game winning streak came to a skid in a 9-7 loss to Susquehanna University Wednesday in nonconference women's lacrosse. The Pacers receive a bye in the Colonial States Athletic Conference tournament and will face the lowest remaining seed May 3 as the No. 2 seed.
Marywood's freshman class shined in the regular season finale.
Gina Babcock and
Gwyneth Gleason combined to score five of the team's seven goals. Babcock netted a career-best three goals, an assist and four ground balls. Gleason matched her four points with two goals and two assists, in addition to five draw controls.
Haley Risi had an outstanding game defensively with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.
Natalie Burke tied the school record for career caused turnovers with one. She collected a team-high seven ground balls.
In goal,
Lauren Smith continued her wildly successful senior season with 12 saves and nine goals-allowed.
Marywood started off well with the first two goals of the contest. Gleason connected on a free-position shot, and
Caitlin Watson found space between the creases at 20:53 for a 2-0 lead. The mighty River Hawks crawled back with a pair of goals within two minutes. Una Heinzerling tacked on her first of the year, followed by Ashley Rose Lynn's equalizer at 17:19.
Gleason put the Pacers back on top when she rifled a one-timer from
Sam Bussinelli for a 3-2 lead at the 11:24 mark. Not a minute later, Caroline Riebecki squared it back at three apiece.
Susquehanna (8-7) found its momentum, tallying two of the three goals scored in the final five minutes of the first half. Brooke Klair found net at 4:55 but Babcock used the inside post to her advantage on a FPS shot with 3:38 left. Lynn once again proved to be a thorn in the Pacers' side with a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left before the break.
Out of the gate, the second half played much to the same tune as its predecessor with neither team finding any sort of offensive rhythm for the first eight minutes. The freshman connection of Babcock-via-Gleason reset the advantage to a 5-5 impasse with 21:25 left. From there, the Pacers' offensive game hit a lull, spending the next fruitless 14 minutes watching the River Hawks go on a three-goal run for an 8-5 lead on Rabiecki's second netter with 7:38 left.
Twenty-eight seconds later, the Babcock-via-Gleason show made an encore to inject life into the Pacers' comeback hopes. Susquehanna's Liv Cohn had other things in mind when she countered on a Brooke Klair feed 40 seconds later.
Marywood (11-5) made a last-ditch attempt when a
Gina Babcock pass into traffic mysteriously bounced off Bussinelli, caromed into the air over the goalkeeper and into the net with 1:37 left.
An otherwise evenly handed game resulted in a slight 27-26 Marywood advantage in shots. The Pacers won the ground ball game by a 33-27 margin and handily toppled the River Hawks 11-7 in draw controls. Susquehanna was largely successful in its transition game by clearing 20 of 21 attempts.
The River Hawks' Lynn led the team with four goals. Shannon Kinney filled the box score with nine ground balls and five caused turnovers. Libby Dex matched Smith with 11 saves.
