PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team dropped a 16-10 contest to Columbia on Saturday afternoon on Sweeney Field. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 1-6 overall while the Lions improve to 3-4.

Freshman midfielder Rebecca Lane scored five goals in her first collegiate start. Junior attacker Nora McCallion (3g) and sophomore midfielder Aly Gormley (2g) rounded out SJU's scorers.

Columbia jumped out to a 10-3 lead by the 2:36 mark of the first half. Lane scored the Hawks' first two goals (23:17, 12:32) before Gormley netted a goal at the 9:23 mark.

Lane scored her third goal of the first half with 11 ticks left on the scoreboard to pull the Hawks to within six, 10-4, heading into the halftime break.

Gormley (29:31) and Lane (25:40) combined for two more Hawk goals out of the halftime break to bring SJU to within four, but Columbia's Lindsey Ewertsen and Sara Ruzzi combined for four consecutive goals to extend the Lions' lead, 14-6, with 14:48 to play.

The Hawks took advantage of a Columbia yellow card as McCallion converted on a free position opportunity (13:29), but Ruzzi responded to keep the Lions at an eight-goal difference.

Saint Joseph's put together a late run as Lane scored her fifth goal of the game (5:08) and McCallion netted a pair (4:12, 3:24) to pull to within five, but Ruzzi put away her fifth of the day, and that 16-10 score would stand as time expired.

For the game, Columbia held a 31-29 edge in shots, although SJU turned in an 18-12 second-half edge. The Hawks earned a 17-11 edge in ground balls while Columbia recorded 18 of the game's 28 draw controls. Six of the Lions' 16 goals came in the form of free position opportunities.

Senior defender Caroline Hagan caused four turnovers, moving her into fourth all-time at SJU for career caused turnovers (64).

Saint Joseph's returns to action at Villanova next Wednesday, March 23. Opening draw is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Villanova Stadium.

GAME NOTES: The Saint Joseph's men's and women's lacrosse programs honored the memory of longtime Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse coach Pat Cullinan on Saturday afternoon. Both teams wore t-shirts in memory of Mr. Cullinan during warm-ups, and donations that will go toward the HEADstrong Foundation™ were collected during both games. The Cullinan family was in attendance and was honored between games.