The women’s lacrosse team fell short in its quest to defeat Seton Hill by a score of 15-10 Saturday.

The Griffins opened up a commanding 9-2 lead at halftime before blowing the game open by stretching the score to 11-2 at the 8:08 mark of the third quarter.

For the Knights, a shining spot was that both early goals came from senior midfielder Rachel Rufts, who was the catalyst for the otherwise nonexistent offense early on.

However, the Knights offense would come alive to rattle off four straight goals to shrink the deficit to five with 1:55 remaining in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter would feature two goals by the Knights early on to cut the deficit to three with a 12-9 score at the 11:54 mark.

Junior midfielder Alli Jacobs was responsible for the first goal of the quarter, which was her third overall in the game.

Tufts also returned to be a part of the scoring effort, scoring her fourth goal of the night and 15th on the season with just under 12 minutes to go and just three minutes after Jacobs’ goal.

It was not to be, however, as the Griffins outscored the Knights 3-1 down the stretch to close out the game with a 15-10 win.

Freshman midfielder Carolina Stevens was the Knight who notched the goal with just over four minutes to play.

With it being her third goal of the game, it was also Stevens’ 19th goal of the season.

Seton Hill had the advantage from start to finish, winning the battle in total shots 33-20, shots on goal 26-15, an edge in ground balls 29-19 and an edge in edge draw controls 19-10.

While both teams committed 26 turnovers, the Griffins’ explosive offense could not be stopped while the resurgence from the Gannon offense could not save the day.

Senior Cheyenne Jess and sophomore Kendra Delissio combined for the efforts in net, while Kamille Ward got the win for the Griffins.

With the loss, the Knights drop to 3-5 on the season and are 1-3 in league play.

After a home match against PSAC-rival Slippery Rock at 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Knights will travel to Buffalo to face the D’Youville Saints at 1 p.m. Saturday.

MICHAEL GUIDO

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