Buena Vista, Va. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team played the first game of its spring break trip on Saturday, earning a tough 8-6 road win at Southern Virginia. Christina Ryan (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and Liz Halpin (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) scored twice and Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) made 14 saves in goal.
 
Tightly contested throughout, the two teams went into the intermission tied at 4-4 on Saturday. The Knights did not score consecutive goals in the opening frame, but a Chelsea Henke (Pawling, N.Y.) marker with just over nine minutes left before halftime evened the game at 4-4.
 
Southern Virginia outshot the Mount 14-10 prior to halftime and held a slim 5-4 edge in draw controls. Groundballs were even in the first half at 5-5.
 
After falling behind 5-4 early in the second frame, the Knights used a 3-0 scoring run that proved to be the difference in the game. Allison Dionne (Burlington, Conn.) started the run at the 26:10 mark of the second half, with Ryan netting both of her goals over a seven-minute stretch to move the Knights in front 7-5 with just over 17 minutes left in regulation.
 
Southern Virginia got back to within a goal with 16:44 left, before Brynn Mulcahy (Wantagh, N.Y.) closed out the scoring in the game with 8:47 left in the second half.
 
Ryan and Halpin combined for half of the team's eight goals with Ryan scoring her 20^th of the season and moving her team-high point total to 25. Dionne added a team-high five groundballs to her goal with Halpin and Morgan Pavlik (Monroe, Conn.) each winning two draw controls.
 
Miklain Hardy paced Southern Virginia with two tallies with Megan Barfuss adding a goal and an assist. Natalie Rice won six draw controls, with Hardy and Holly Ryan collecting four groundballs apiece.
 
Picillo finished with 14 saves for the second straight contest, stopping 10 shots in the second half on Saturday, and has now made 53 saves. She holds a .491 save percentage and a 10.90 goals against average through the season's first six games. Madilyn Krauss finished with three stops for Southern Virginia.
 
Mount Saint Mary was outshot 20-5 in the second half and 34-15 for the game. Mount Saint Mary held the edge in groundballs 16-14, while Southern Virginia won 12 of the 16 draw controls in the game. The Knights rounded out the game 6-for-14 in clearing chances.
 
Saturday's win evens the Mount's record at 3-3 overall. Next up for the Mount is a trip to Division II Lincoln Memorial. Opening Draw in Harrogate, Tenn. Is set for 1:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon.