Purchase, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team dropped its second straight one goal decision and its fourth game overall on Thursday night with a tough 14-13 conference loss on the road at Purchase. Sophomore Christina Ryan (Franklin Square, N.Y.) led the offensive charge with four goals for the Knights.
 
Amanda Clemens (Baldwin, N.Y.) got the Knights off to a good start with an early goal to open the scoring in the game and a four goal run after falling behind 3-1 pushed the Mount in front 5-3 with 8:29 left in the opening period. Clemens scored her second of the half to start the stretch with Jen Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) Kayla Goman (Greenwich, N.Y.) and Ryan adding tallies for the Mount.
 
Goman's goal with 8:29 left in the period would be the final marker of the half for Mount Saint Mary, with Purchase running off the final three goals of the period to carry a slim 6-5 advantage into the intermission. Samantha Rich and Madi Smith scored just over a minute apart late in the half to extend the Panthers lead to three at the break.
 
Mount Saint Mary outshot Purchase in the opening 30 minutes 13-9 and won nine of the 10 draw controls taken. Purchase goalie Cynthia Plackis made six saves in the first half and the Panthers held a 9-6 edge in groundballs.
 
Senior Shannon McGuinness (Oceanside, N.Y.) got the Mount on the board early in the second half with a man-up tally to even the score at 6-6. Purchase answered with the next two goals and did not allow the Knights to score consecutive goals in the second half until Ryan and Goman scored 26 seconds apart to bring the Mount to within 12-11 with 12:12 left in regulation time.
 
The Panthers moved back in front by two goals on a Nathalie Lavelanet marker, before Ryan and Gries struck 68 seconds part to knot the score at 13-13 with just over seven minutes left in the second half.
 
The game remained tied for just 23 seconds when Purchase got the eventual game winning goal from Emma Porter with 6:40 showing on the clock. The Knights had four shots turned away by Plackis in the final 4:57 of regulation time.
 
Ryan added four groundballs and a pair of draw controls to her scoring output, which has seen her score six of her eight goals on the season in the last two games. Clemens, Gries and Goman each closed the game with a pair of tallies for the Knights, with Gries closing out a three point night with an assist.
 
Duffy won nine draw controls for the Mount on Thursday, adding three groundballs and an assist. Clemens recorded three draw controls and a pair of groundballs and Kathleen McGinnis (Shelton, Conn.) caused a team-high three turnovers.
 
Purchase was led by six goals and seven points from Rich, who finished off a strong game with five draw controls and four groundballs. Porter scored twice and assisted on three goals and Kelly Turtell picked up three assists in the win.
 
Plackis finished the game with 14 saves for Purchase and a groundball, while Mount Saint Mary goalie Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) stopped three shots for the Knights.
 
Overall in the game, Mount Saint Mary outshot Purchase 34-20 and 27-17 in shots on goal. The Knights won the groundball battle 19-15 in the game and dominated draw controls 17-9.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 4-6 overall on the season and to 0-2 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights will look to get back into the win column on April 13 when they travel to Old Westbury. Opening Draw is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

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