The Gannon University women’s lacrosse team got off to a slow start Saturday and couldn’t make up that ground, eventually falling to East Stroudsburg, 18-9, in a PSAC match at East Stroudsburg.
The loss, coupled with the Knights’ 21-16 defeat at the hands of rival Mercyhurst on March 29, extended Gannon’s losing streak to four games and left the Knights 2-6 overall and 0-4 in PSAC play.
The Knights will look to snap their losing streak in an 11 a.m. home match with West Chester Friday at McConnell Family Stadium. Gannon also will be in action Saturday at home in an 11 a.m. match with Shippensburg.
In Saturday’s loss to East Stroudsburg, the Warriors scored the first six goals of the game and led 10-3 at halftime.
Freshman Kennedy Walters got Gannon on the board in the game’s 14th minute, getting an assist from sophomore Micaela Capozzo.
The Knights added a second consecutive goal at the 12:48 mark on Kat Martinelli’s unassisted effort, making the score 6-2.
But East Stroudsburg fired back with three consecutive scores and four of the final five goals of the first half to build its lead to 10-3.
Tessa Mitchell scored Gannon’s final goal of the first half off an assist from Leilani King.
After intermission, the Warriors scored first and then the Knights drew within 11-5 on back-to-back goals.
Capozzo tailed the first off an assist from sophomore Alexa Bower before King converted a free-position shot.
East Stroudsburg was able to generate three goals in a three-minute span, and at the 20:58 mark, the Warriors held a 14-5 lead.
Gannon fought back hard, getting three straight scores from King, Bower and Mitchell to narrow the gap to 14-8.
But the Warriors finished almost as strong as they started, getting four of the last five goals to seal the victory.
East Stroudsburg outshot Gannon 35-22, including a 20-9 edge during the first half. Gannon had fewer fouls (23-18) while both teams won 14 draw controls.
King had an outstanding showing on the Gannon offensive unit with three goals, two assists, a season-high nine draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Mitchell scored twice to help the attack.
Freshman Charla Tate made her eighth consecutive start in goal, recording four saves during each half for a total of eight. She was also able to tie King for the team lead with a season-high of three ground balls.
Saturday’s match was the last of a three-match road swing. King moved into Gannon’s top 15 since 2004 in ground balls with 123, tying Kimberly Neagle for 15th place.
King also caused multiple turnovers for the third time this year. Tate recorded at least eight saves for the fourth time this season.
In the loss to Mercyhurst, Gannon battled the Lakers to an 8-8 standoff at halftime, scoring the final three goals to pull into a tie.
King scored three of the Knights’ eight first-half goals while Mitchell added two and Shields, Capozzo and Bower each contributed one.
But Mercyhurst took control after intermission, scoring eight of the first nine goals of the half to build a 16-9 lead.
Mitchell then poured in three straight goals to pull the Knights within four, but that was as close as Gannon would get.
Mitchell and King each scored five goals while Rotondo, Walters and Martinelli also scored in addition to Shields, Capozzo and Bower.
CIARA RAND
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