WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trailing by three at the halftime break, the Hawks' offense fired off six of the first seven goals of the second half while the defense stifled the Colonials to just two second-half scores and forced a key turnover with 33 seconds to play as the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse squad picked up an 11-10 win over George Washington in Atlantic 10 conference action at the GW Lacrosse Field on Friday afternoon. With their fourth straight win, the Hawks improve to 9-6 overall (5-2 A-10) while the Colonials fall to 9-6 (2-5 A-10).

On 41 total shots, Saint Joseph's peppered GW goalkeeper Jenna Oler with 36 total shots on goal for the game, forcing Oler into a 25-game save.

Junior midfielder Sinead Brierley led the squad in scoring with four points on three goals and an assist while freshman attacker Stephanie Kelly added two goals and a helper.

Senior defender Juliana Strazulo scrapped for a single-game, career-high six ground balls to go with two caused turnovers while sophomore midfielder Julia Pash and junior midfielder Ally Beck combined for 12 of SJU's 16 possessions from the circle.

Graduate student goalkeeper Liz O'Sullivan (9-6, 5-2 A-10) made 12 saves and held the Colonials to just two goals scored on eight attempts in the second half.

The Colonials used a five-goal scoring spurt over the course of just under eight minutes to take a 5-1 lead by the 19:01 mark of the first half.

SJU struck back with a pair of free position goals from senior midfielder Aly Gormley (17:36) and sophomore midfielder Penny Green (15:25), with Brierley's second of the day sandwiched in between (16:55), to close its deficit to one, 5-4, entering the final 15:25 of the first.

However, George Washington responded with a three-goal run to jump back ahead by four, 8-4, by the 4:58 mark.

Brierley scored her second of the game with 3:03 to play in the first to bring the Hawks back to within three, 8-5, entering the halftime break.

SJU opened the second half with three straight goals as junior midfielder Hayley Sabol (27:45), assisted by freshman attacker Sam McGee, and Kelly (27:17) scored within 28 seconds of one another and Brierley completed her hat trick with an equalizer at the 23:58 mark.

GW's Katie Quinn converted an eight-meter goal (21:10) to regain the lead for the Colonials, but senior midfielder Kate Payne (17:52), assisted by Kelly, and McGee (14:43) score in succession to regain the lead for the Hawks before sophomore midfielder Laura Lasprogata made a gritty play in drawing a foul on Oler, which resulted in an empty-net, free-position opportunity for the sophomore; Lasprogata calmy scored SJU's 11th goal of the game with 5:14 to play for the two-goal edge.

George Washington tacked on one more with 20:3 to go as Morgan McDonnell found Jocelyn Donohue in front of the net.

GW found itself in possession with 33 seconds to play, but sophomore midfielder Bridget Cerciello forced the Colonials to turn the ball over, Pash scooped up her fourth ground ball of the day, and the Hawks killed off the final 33 seconds of game time to seal the 11-10 win.

For the game, Saint Joseph's held a 28-24 edge in ground balls and won 16 of the game's 23 possessions from the circle.

Saint Joseph's returns home to host George Mason (10-5, 4-3 A-10) in the 2018 regular-season home finale this Sunday, April 22. Opening draw control is set for 1:00 p.m. on Sweeney Field.

Following the game, Saint Joseph's will honor seniors Dana Garbinski, Aly Gormley, Kristen Kelbon, Morgan Lamey, Kate Payne, Juliana Strazulo, Catie Vivian and graduate students Amelia Deibler and Liz O'Suliivan in a Senior Day ceremony.

GAME NOTES: Saint Joseph's improves to 6-11 all-time against George Washington, and 3-1 under the direction of fourth-year head coach Alex Kahoe... With two caused turnovers apiece in Friday's game, senior midfielder Kate Payne and defender Juliana Strazulo etched their way into SJU's recordbooks... Payne now has 48 caused turnovers for her career, which ties for 10th, with Anne Vandergrift '99, Maggie Egan '17, and volunteer assistant coach Mallory Grey '17, for career caused turnovers at SJU... Strazulo now has 26 on the spring, which ties for ninth, with Abby Renninger, for most caused turnovers by a Hawk in one season... With 12 saves in Friday's game, graduate student goalkeeper Liz O'Sullivan now has 160 for her Hawk career (through 17 games), which sits eighth all-time at SJU.