BETHLEHEM, Pa. / Mar. 3, 2012– The Robert Morris women’s lacrosse team continued their four-game road trip as they traveled to Lehigh, dropping an 11-9 decision on Saturday afternoon.  The Colonials brought the deficit to within two goals in the closing seconds after scoring four-straight goals in a span of just over two minutes.

Robert Morris (1-3, 0-0 NEC) received multi-goal performances from senior Colleen O'Donnell (Portland Ore. / St. Mary’s Academy) as well as sophomore MacKenzie Lawler (Okemos Mich. / Okemos) and freshman Emma Baukhages (Gambrills, Md. / Indian Creek).

The Colonials fell behind early as Lehigh (2-2) scored the first three goals of the contest before senior Courtney Sicinski (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West) scored at the midpoint of the first half.  Three minutes later, fellow senior O’Donnell netted her first of two goals in the game.  Lehigh would push the lead back to two before Lawler scored off of a free position shot.  The deficit facing the Colonials would again be two goals as Lehigh scored their fifth goal before the end of the first half.

RMU opened the second half scoring as O’Donnell would score her second off of a pass from Baukhages.  Lehigh would score the next two goals of the game behind Colonial goaltender Kaitlin Pentz (Sykesville Md. / Century).  With less than twenty minutes remaining, Baukhages would score the Colonials’ fifth goal of the game off of a free position shot.  As play wound down, the Mountain Hawks would net the next four goals to give them a six-goal advantage with under three minutes remaining.  After the eleventh Lehigh goal, freshman Kristin Yoviene (Easton, Md. / Saints Peter and Paul) won the draw control and possessed the ball downfield to score on Mountain Hawk goaltender Allison Fayans with just over two minutes remaining in the game.  Less than a minute later, freshman Talia Waskowicz (Pittsburgh Pa. / North Allegheny) netted her only goal of the game off of a feed from Lawler.  Lawler would add her second free position goal of the day with less than a minute remaining to bring the Colonials to within three.  With just five seconds remaining in the game, Baukhages would net her second as well off of a pass from Sicinski.  That goal would prove to be the final scoring in the game as Lehigh won the ensuing draw control to run out the remaining time.

Pentz finished the game with eight saves in the contest.  Lawler and Baukhages both contributed two goals and one assist to the Colonial offense.  Robert Morris converted three of their four free position shots in the game while Pentz was able to stop two of Lehigh’s four attempts.  The defense of RMU was able to force the Mountain Hawks into sixteen turnovers and was led by Yoviene with two caused turnovers.

The Colonials return to action as they travel to Annapolis, Md. to face Navy this upcoming Wednesday before returning home to Joe Walton Stadium to host High Point on Saturday, March 10th at 1:00 p.m.

-Robert Morris University-