March 7, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA--The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team encountered a quick scoring George Mason team that found its stride in the second half en route to a 17-11 loss on Saturday at Finnesey Field. Jenna Martino scored a hat trick and added an assist while Helen Tursi chipped in with two goals and an assist.

George Mason (2-2) outscored the Hawks, 11-4, over the final 31:13 to put the game away. Reserve Megan Udovich scored her first goals of the 2009 season, all six, on Saturday afternoon to lead all scorers.

Saint Joseph's (3-2) led 7-6 after a three-goal spurt by Grace Dinn, Meghan McDevitt and Martino. Dinn's tally was helped by Abby Renninger's second assist of the season. Martino's goal was assisted by Jen Peters her third of the year.

The game featured several runs, first a 3-0 advantage to start the game for the Hawks. Renninger, Tursi and Jessica Westlake scored on consecutive tallies in the first 6:09. The Patriots answered with five straight goals of their own over the next 14:10.

Marino and Udovich traded goals shortly after that, setting up the three-goal run that gave the Hawks a 7-6 lead.

GMU scored seven of the next eight markers with the lone SJU tally coming from Westlake. Martino and McDevitt broke the 7-1 run by the Patriots with 11:33 to go, cutting the deficit to three at 13-10.

Three more goals by Mason pushed the lead to 16-10 with three more tallied with 4:52 remaining. Tursi added another with 1:11 to go before another Patriots goal capped the scoring at 17-11.

SJU out-shot GMU, 33-27 and had advantages in ground balls (23-21), and draw controls (17-13). Suzy Herlihy made eight saves for the Hawks, while Mason's Sara Longobucco made 15 saves for the victors.

The Hawks will return to action on Wednesday when they take on Rutgers. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. on Finnesey Field.