Saturday afternoon brought success for the Gannon University lacrosse team as the Knights iced the University of Findlay, 16-13, at McConnell Family Stadium.
Following the win against Findlay, the Knights were derailed Tuesday by Indiana University of Pennsylvania, losing 15-8 at home to the No. 17-ranked Crimson Hawks.
In the win over Findlay, Gannon came out swinging as sophomore Alexa Bower and seniors Ashley Mozingo and Tessa Mitchell scored the first three goals for the Knights.
Within 6 minutes, 41 seconds Gannon scored three goals and Findlay finally got on the board as well. The Knights hit back with two more goals by freshman Erin Rotondo and sophomore Kat Martinelli.
With 21:21 left in the half, the Knights led 5-1. Findlay responded with a goal off a free-position and junior Leilani King and Martinelli responded with two more goals to extend Gannon’s lead to 72.
With 7:07 left, Findlay ended its run of four goals to Gannon’s one, which left the score 8-6 in favor of the Knights.
After a regroup of its own, Gannon took control as Mozingo and King widened the Knights’ lead to 10-6 with 4:36 left in the half.
As the clock wound down, Findlay found the back of the net three more times, cutting the deficit to 10-9 and giving the Oilers momentum going into the second half.
However, a Martinelli miracle aided the Knights’ cause with a goal at the 4.6-second mark pushing the Knights ahead 11-9 at intermission.
King ripped open the second half with back-to-back goals giving Gannon a 13-9 advantage.After two Findlay goals to one Gannon goal, King netted two more scores to cap the Knights’ offensive output for the evening at 16-11 with 5:03 left in the match.
That would land King with a career-high seven goals on eight shots. She also jumped three players and moved into Gannon’s all-time top 20 in points with 136.
Findlay fought until the end and produced another pair of goals in the final 53 seconds but it wasn’t enough as Gannon took the 16-13 victory.
Riding high on the win over Findlay, the Knights were down on their luck after matching up with the Crimson Hawks of IUP.
The result was a 15-8 loss, but Gannon never trailed for the first 50:43 before IUP snapped an 8-8 tie with seven unanswered goals to take the win.
Early on in the contest both teams were in a defensive battle but Gannon’s Mitchell drew first blood off an assist from sophomore Micaela Capozzo 5:16 into the contest.
After that it was a back-and-forth game offensively as both teams exchanged goals for the first half.
Martinelli and King were able to give the Knights one-goal leads but IUP answered both times by tying the game.
Before intermission, Bower shot a pass over to Rotondo who netted the ball with 1:27 left on the clock to give Gannon a 4-3 advantage as the half drew to a close.
Full of energy, the Hawks scored within the first 43 seconds of play in the second half, tying the match at 4-4. A pair of Gannon goals assumed a 6-4 lead in favor of the Knights.
With Gannon leading 7-6, IUP ripped off two consecutive goals in a 72-second span. This was the first lead for the Hawks at 8-7 with 13:03 remaining.
King tallied an unassisted goal at the 10:25 mark for Gannon, creating the seventh tie of the match.
The Hawks answered with a scoring barrage, netting seven unanswered goals in the final 9:13 of the game to secure the 15-8 victory.
The Knights will fight to get back in the win column with a three-match road swing starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kutztown University. Gannon is currently 2-3 overall and the Golden Bears are 4-1.
BRANDON JACES
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