Danbury, Conn. - The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team dropped its second road contest of the season on Thursday with a 17-9 defeat at Western Connecticut. The Knights were paced by senior Claire Duffy (Monroe, N.Y,) who scored three times and won five draw controls.

After Western Connecticut jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Mount Saint Mary got on the board when Duffy scored her first of the game at the 22:02 mark of the first half. The Colonials answered with the next four goals to open a 7-2 lead, before Katie Gattoni (Old Tappan, N.J.) scored for the Knights with just over 16 minutes left before halftime.

Trailing 9-2 at the intermission, Mount Saint Mary was outshot 13-6 before the break and saw Western Connecticut hold an 11-10 edge in groundballs and a 9-3 advantage in draw controls.

Coming out of the intermission, Mount Saint Mary received goals from Shannon McGuinness (Oceanside, N.Y.) and Jen Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) to slice the disadvantage to 9-4, but saw the Colonials rip off the next five goals to open a 14-4 lead with just shy of 20 minutes left in regulation.

Duffy stopped the scoring run with her second of the game with 17:46 left in the contest and added her team-high third of the night with just over 12 minutes left in the tilt.

Duffy finished the game with three goals and also led the Knights with five groundballs, five caused turnovers and five draw controls. Gattoni added two goals and an assist, while Gries and McGuinness each finished with a goal and a helper.

Amanda Clemens (Baldwin, N.Y.) finished off a strong game with three groundballs and four caused turnovers, with Catherine Ferris (Staten Island, N.Y.) adding two groundballs and two caused turnovers. Morgan Cordes (Sound Beach, N.Y.) rounded out the night with a pair of draw controls in the game.
Destinee Carey led the Colonials with eight goals and nine points, while Carley Altemose won 11 draw controls.

Freshman goalie Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) posted seven saves on the night and added two groundballs and a caused turnover. Western Connecticut used a pair of goalies, with Missy O'Donnell earning the win with seven stops in just over 40 minutes of action.

For the game, Western Connecticut held a 34-24 edge in shots and a 15-14 advantage in groundballs. The Colonials scored 12 free-position goals in the game and won 19 of the 29 draw controls taken.

At 2-2 overall, the Knights will return to action on Sunday afternoon at New England College. Opening Draw in Henniker, N.H. is set for 1:00 p.m.

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