Union, N.J. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling on the road at Kean by a score of 17-7. Senior Claire Duffy (Monroe, N.Y.) led the Knights in draw controls and groundballs and added a pair of goals.
 
Kean got off to a quick start, scoring the first goal of the game in the first half minute of action and jumping out to a 3-0 lead 2:58 into the tilt. The Knights would get on the board at the 23:58 mark of the first half and cut their deficit to 3-1 on a Katie Gattoni (Old Tappan, N.J.) marker.
 
Following the Gattoni tally, Kean ripped off the next three goals and five of the final seven tallies of the half to carry an 8-3 lead into the intermission. Duffy stopped the Cougars second three goal run of the half with her first of the game with just under six minutes left before halftime and added her second of the day inside the final minute of the opening stanza.
 
After 30 minutes of action, Kean held a 15-10 edge in overall shots, but a slim 10-9 advantage in shots on goal. Mount Saint Mary went just 5-for-12 in clearing chances prior to the break and Kean held a 17-11 edge in groundballs.
 
The Cougars would open up a 13-3 lead coming out of halftime on Saturday after potting the first six goals of the second half, before the Knights mounted a four goal run to climb back to within 13-7 with just under seven minutes left in regulation time. Gattoni scored three times over the stretch for the Knights, with Kathleen McGinnis (Shelton, Conn.) adding a goal for the Knights.
 
Krista LaMaina would stop the run for the Mount with a goal at 6:03 which started a string of four straight goals for Kean to close out the scoring in the game and secure the victory.
 
Gattoni led the offensive charge for the Mount with four goals on nine shots and matched the team-high with five groundballs in the game. Duffy joined Gattoni with five groundballs, winning five draw controls and chipping in with a pair of goals.
 
Senior Shannon McGuinness (Oceanside, N.Y.) recorded the team's lone assist in the game, while Morgan Cordes (Sound Beach, N.Y.) and Amanda Clemens (Baldwin, N.Y.) each caused a turnover. Cordes won a pair of draw controls in the game and Clemens contributed three groundballs.
 
Kean was led by four goals each from Samantha Gnapp and Morgan Graham and got a goal and 12 draw control wins from LaMaina.
 
Freshman Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) mad a career-high four saves in her second career start, while Kean goalie, Nikki Apostolopouls, stopped eight shots for the Cougars.
 
For the game, Mount Saint Mary was outshot 33-18, including 18-8 in the second half. Kean held the edge in draw controls 17-9 and groundballs 30-22 and went 14-for-16 in clearing chances. Mount Saint Mary was held to 9-for-21 in clearing opportunities on the day.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 1-1 overall on the season. The Knights will look to rebound on Wednesday when they play host to New Paltz. Opening Draw at Kaplan Field is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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