Lacrosse Falls to Albertus Magnus Wednesday, 13-6

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph lacrosse team fell to intrastate and Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe Albertus Magnus, 13-6, on the USJ Lacrosse Field on Wednesday afternoon. With the setback the Blue Jays slide to 2-3 overall on the season and 0-3 in GNAC play. Albertus snaps a two-game skid and picks up its first league win to improve to 4-3 and 1-3.

Junior Hannah Lemek (Bristol, Conn.) led the way for USJ finishing with a hat trick, while freshman Charlotte Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) netted her first career goal and recorded her first career assist.

The Falcons raced out to an early lead scoring the first three goals of the game in the opening nine minutes of action. USJ answered and ended the opening drought with the first goal of the game from Lemek with 18:05 left to play in the first half to make it 3-1 AMC.

Albertus would punch back and push its lead back to three, 4-1, with the second goal of the game from sophomore Korina Zelaya (Trumbull, Conn.) just over five minutes later before the Blue Jays tightend down defensively, keeping the Falcons scoreless for the remainder of the period. Three minutes later St. Joseph trimmed the deficit in half and made it 4-2 with a strike from sophomore Lindsy Hurlbert (Granby, Conn.) off the first career feed from Eberhardt and that's how the two teams would head into halftime.

The Blue Jays struck first just over two minutes into the second half to pull within one goal, 4-3, with an unassisted goal from freshman Mary Joerg (Canton, Conn.), but Albertus Magnus answered with six unanswered goals over the ensuing 12 minutes to take control of the game and build a 10-3 advantage. Nikki Kern (Wallingford, Conn.) fueled the spurt with three straight goals during the run for the Falcons.

Lemek ended the run with her second goal of the game with 14:31 left to play in regulation to make it 10-4 and Eberhardt found the back of the net for her first collegiate goal two minutes later, but it was too little too late as the Falcons would eventually hold on for a 13-6 final decision.

Junior net minder Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.) took the loss between the pipes for the Blue Jays despite making a season-high 19 saves on the day. She slips to 2-3 on the season and also added three ground balls in the game. Lexi Fenn (Oakville, Conn.) improves to 4-3 on the year for Albertus and made four stops.

The USJ lacrosse team will look to rebound when they return to action next tomorrow on the road at Dean College. The opening draw is scheduled for 4 p.m.