Lacrosse Rally Falls Just Short in 14-12 Loss

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph lacrosse team rallied from a seven-goal deficit, but fell just short at the end as Norwich defeated the Blue Jays 14-12 Monday in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference game at St. Joseph.

Norwich improved to 1-4 overall on the season and 1-2 in the GNAC; St. Joseph is 2-5 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

Dayna Gambino (Newington, Conn.) led the Blue Jays with four goals and an assist. Rachel Foster (Newington, Conn.) and Erika Leitao (Southington, Conn.) each had three goals and an assist for USJ and Haley Tufano (Farmington, Conn.) scored twice. Foster also scooped up a game-high eight ground balls.

Grace Fitzpatrick (Falmouth, Maine) scored three of her team-high four goals in the first half as Norwich built leads of 6-0 and 10-3 before leading 10-4 at intermission.

The Blue Jays faced an 11-4 deficit early in the second half before going on an amazing 7-0 run over 11 minutes to pull even. Gambino scored the first goal during the stretch with 28:32 to play and six goals later, Foster's third of the second half, on a free position shot, tied the score 11-11 with 17:24 to play.

Fitzpatrick scored with 14:17 to play to put the Cadets ahead, 12-11, but the Blue Jays came back again, as Gambino's final goal evened things at 12 with 13:33 left. Larissa Gokey (St. Johnsbury, Verm.) broke the tie for Norwich with a free position shot with 11:16 remaining. The Blue Jays generated six more shots before the end of the game, but could not manage another equalizer. Emma Smith (Patterson, N.Y.) scored the final goal for Norwich with 58 seconds to play.

USJ goalkeeper Brianna Tenore (Rocky Hill, Conn.) made 12 saves on 20 shots faced in 48 minutes of action.

St. Joseph plays next at Mount Ida, Wed. April 3 at 6:30 p.m. The Blue Jays host Rivier, Sat. April 6 at 1 p.m.