NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - The UMass Lowell women's lacrosse team made a valiant effort, but dropped its third straight game falling to Iona College, 12-6, on Wednesday afternoon.
"We were really excited to come out and play this game. We saw this team back in the fall, so we had some exposure to them, and we came out really strong," said Head Coach
Carissa Medeiros. "We fixed some things, we started to score more in the first half and broke that four-goal curse that we've been working with. There were a lot of good opportunities off of their turnovers, and that's one of the things we focused on coming into this game, and we capitalized."
Devon McKercher (Vestal, N.Y.) gave the River Hawks (0-3) their first lead of the season and in program history with a tally only 1:44 into the game.
Kaylan DiModugno (Deer Park, N.Y.) dished to McKercher who fired off the shot.
Jenn Guen (Braintree, Mass.) doubled the lead with 24:30 remaining in the half on a free-position shot, for the midfielder's first career goal.
The Gaels (2-1) got on the scoreboard with 19:39 remaining on a goal from Erin Pugh, then took the 3-2 lead from Anna Kelly and Mary Kate McCormick goals with 17:57 and 16:10 on the clock.
Jesse Jay (Amherst, N.H.) scored her second goal of the season to knot up the score, unassisted at 14:52. The attack used a beautiful spin move to get by a defender and found herself one-on-one, and capitalized.
Iona scored the next two goals to retake the lead at 5-3, before UMass Lowell got back within one.
Taylor Sokol (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored her fourth goal of the season off a pass from Jay with 2:41 remaining.
The hosts used a strike from Pugh with 66 seconds on the clock to take a 6-4 lead into halftime.
Courtney Barrett (South Burlington, Vt.) made nine saves in the first half, including two on back-to-back free-position shots early on.
McKercher scored her second of the game with 15:11 remaining in the second half, off a Jay assist, to cut the deficit to 9-5. Jay received the ball behind the net and dished to the Vestal, N.Y. native who was cutting to the ne. McKercher then recorded an assist on
Micaela Sanborn's (Chlemsford, Mass.) goal, which got the River Hawks within 9-6 with 13:11 on the clock.
McKercher and Jay both set career-highs with three points apiece.
Barrett ended the game with 14 saves, tying her career-high. UMass Lowell scored on 1-of-2 free-position shots, while the Gaels went 1-of-8.
The River Hawks are back in action on March 1 when they travel to battle Sacred Heart at 1 p.m.
