WORCESTER, Mass. -- The UMass Lowell women's lacrosse team (1-1) fell by a 13-5 margin at Holy Cross (2-0) on Sunday afternoon, despite four freshman River Hawks finding the back of the net.
 
Freshman goalie Madison Grazidei (Bayport, N.Y.) topped her personal-best with a career-high 13 saves.
 
"I'm not convinced we came out with a lot of energy today," commented head coach Lisa Miller. "Holy Cross did a good job bunkering down and protecting the eight meter, so when we did get shots off we didn't get much behind it. It's a bit of a learning experience in terms of the way you get yourself ready for a game and the energy you play with early."
 
The River Hawks started off strong thanks to freshman Alex Palermo's (Reading, Mass.) first career-goal at 23:03, but the Crusaders would counter, posting two goals over the next nine minutes to take the lead at 2-1 with 11:49 left in the first.
 
Less than two minutes later, freshman Caroline Klim (Wrentham, Mass.) would find her footing to equalize the score at 2-2, but the home team would connect on three more goals to put them ahead 5-2 at the horn.
 
Natalie Choate (Spencerport, N.Y.) opened up the scoring in the second half, after a ground ball pickup by fellow classmate Layton Nass (Manhasset, N.Y.). The Crusaders would answer back though with seven goals over the span of 15 minutes to extend their lead to 12-3 with 11:38 left on the clock.
 
Abby McLaughlin (Walpole, Mass.) and Hana Caster (North Attleboro, Mass.) would go on the attack for back-to-back goals, trimming the gap 12-5 with 11 minutes left to play, but Holy Cross would add one more to their total, ending the score 13-5.
 
Up next the River Hawks will make their way to Connecticut for a Friday matchup with the Huskies, game time is set for 3 p.m.