George Washington University

March 26, 2010

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The George Washington women's lacrosse team held a 6-5 lead at halftime, but Massachusetts didn't allow a goal over the final 24:54 and scored the final six goals of the game to defeat the Colonials, 13-7, in both teams Atlantic 10 Conference opener at Mount Vernon Field Friday afternoon.

GW (2-8, 0-1 A-10) forced nine turnovers and closed the first half with a 5-2 run to lead by a goal at the break. UMass (4-6, 1-0 A-10), the defending Atlantic 10 champions, turned up the defensive pressure and limited its giveaways en route to outscoring GW, 8-1, and pull away in the second half.

Sophomores Megan Seidman and Sarah Phillips each had two goals and an assist to pace the Colonials. Freshman Nicole Lacey netted a career-high two goals, while senior Taylor Donohue added a goal and an assist.

The Minutewomen were led by three goals and an assist from each of their leading scorers, Jesse O'Donnell and Jackie Lyons. Haley Smith and Ali Houlis tallied two goals apiece, Danielle Pelletier chipped in a goal and an assist and Nina Sarcona dished out two assists to help UMass to its fourth straight victory over GW.

O'Donnell and Lyons scored consecutive goals to give UMass a 3-1 advantage at the 19:37 mark, but GW responded with three unanswered goals - one apiece from Donohue, Lacey and Seidman - in a span of four minutes to take a 4-3 lead. Merritt Cosgrove scored her only goal to pull the Minutewomen even before Lacey and Phillips capped a 5-1 run to give the Colonials a 6-4 edge with 8:24 left in the period.

O'Donnell completed her hat trick by adding the games' next two goals - at the 6:15 mark of the first half to make it 6-5 at the half and the opening goal of the second half to knot it at 6-6 with 26:47 remaining. UMass briefly took its first lead in over 20 minutes on Pelletier's goal 31 seconds after O'Donnell's tying tally, but Seidman evened the score once again off an assist from Donohue at the 24:54 mark.

Lyons scored the game-winning goal 51 seconds later and GW would record four shots and 12 turnovers the rest of the way as UMass scored the next six goals for the 13-7 final margin.

GW held a 16-10 edge in ground balls, led by three apiece from Kelsey Honeyford and Hilary Quinn. UMass held a 25-19 edge in shots and 16-6 lead in draws. Katie Florence made eight saves to earn the victory, while junior Liz Hoffman made five saves in the loss.

GW will look to snap its five-game losing skid Sunday against Temple at Mount Vernon. Opening draw is scheduled for 1:00 pm. Sunday's promotion is the GW Women's Athletics Thinks Pink initiative to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game to show support for the worthwhile cause.