NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- The UMass Lowell women's lacrosse team (0-4) held the lead late in regulation, but fell in overtime, 7-6, to Iona (4-2) on Thursday afternoon. Senior Taylor Sokol (Hopkinton, Mass.) tallied a hat trick to lead the squad offensively, while three other River Hawks tallied two points in the contest.

Senior keeper Courtney Barrett (South Burlington, Vt.) stopped seven shots on the day. With her seven saves, Barrett now sits at 505 career saves, becoming the first player in program history to amass at least 500 saves in a career.

"Our team showed a lot of heart and grit today as we battled a very tough and solid Iona team," commented Women's Lacrosse Head Coach Carissa Medeiros. "Although we didn't come out victorious, we improved in the areas we have been focusing on in practice and are one step closer to playing to our potential."

Iona opened up the scoring just over two minutes into play on a free position attempt from Katelyn Noschese.

Sokol responed a minute later with a free position goal of her own to tie it up at one all.

With 22:16 remaining in the first half, the Gaels found the back of the net to regain their one goal lead in the first half.

Roughly nine minutes later, after a defensive stalemate between the two teams, Cameron McKelvin (Westminster, Md.) ended the scoring drought to tie it at 2-2 after Kendyl Finelli (Southborough, Mass.) found the sophomore hovering out in front of the net.

Junior Rebecca Idson (East Atlantic Beach, N.Y.) connected on a pass from senior Kaylan DiModugno (Deer Park, N.Y.) and burried it past the Iona goalkeeper to give the River Hawks the 3-2 lead with 4:23 remaining in the first half.

Two minutes later, Barrett stopped a quality shot to keep Iona off the board late and enter halftime with a one goal lead.

Sokol extended the River Hawk lead at the 28:35 mark of the second off a pass from Finelli to make it a 4-2 game minutes into the second.

After the Gaels responded less than a minute later to make it a one goal game, Sokol tallied her third goal of the game 45 seconds later to regain the two goal lead for the River Hawks.

It took 19 minutes for another goal to be scored, as Noschese cut the Iona deficit to just one with 8:06 remaining in regulation.

DiModugno registered her first goal of the season three minutes later, capitalizing on a free position attempt to give UMass Lowell a 6-4 lead with under five minutes to go in regulation.

The Gaels scored twice in less than a minute to tie it up at six all and send it into overtime. Iona would win it with 23 seconds remaining in overtime to steal the victory away from the River Hawks.

The Mill City squad returns to action on Sunday, March 11 when they welcome Wagner to Wicked Blue Field with opening draw scheduled for 1 p.m.