Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Youngstown State women's lacrosse team scored four unanswered goals to close out the contest but could not mount a comeback in a 13-9 loss to Pittsburgh at Highmark Stadium.
The Penguins fall to 2-7 on the season while Pittsburgh improves to 4-8.
Natalie Calandra-Ryan led the Penguins with four goals to deliver her sixth hat trick of the season and 99th career score. Calandra-Ryan also tallied a game-high six draw controls and made an assist.
Abby Yesko found the back of the net twice for the Guins and added an assist. Ali Korin, Jade Shearer, and Tristen Chang each scored a goal apiece. Korin added two assists while Chang and Erin Clark each made one. Shearer, a freshman, scored her first career goal in the contest.
Goalkeeper Mikaela Staranko delivered an impressive first half as she made nine saves on 15 shots-on goal. After five Pittsburgh goals in the third quarter, she finished the day with a .450 save percentage when redshirt-freshman Jacqueline Cornell came in for the final quarter. Cornell made five saves while only giving up two goals for a .741 save percentage in 15 minutes of play.
Pittsburgh's scoring effort was led by Jill Fenech with three goals while Camdyn O'Donnell, Sydney Naylor, and Jenna Hendrickson each added two.
A four-goal run by YSU started at the 10:05 mark of the fourth quarter when Chang turned and fired a Korin pass into the net, making the score 13-6.
Then Calandra-Ryan scored two goals in under a minute, one off a free-position attempt and one on an assist from Clark, to make the score 13-8 with 4:32 to play in the game.
YSU would find the back of the net once again before the buzzer sounded when Calandra-Ryan connected with Yesko who fired the ball into the net at the 1:22 mark of the fourth quarter, making the final score 13-9.
In the first quarter, Korin put the Penguins on the board at the 7:57 mark following two early Pittsburgh goals. Then at the 4:45 mark, Korin delivered a beautiful pass to Yesko who scored the goal, Panthers' leading 3-2.
Both teams remained scoreless for the majority of the second quarter until Pittsburgh scored two goals within thirty seconds, leaving 3:08 to play before halftime and giving Pittsburgh a 6-2 lead.
Calandra-Ryan scored her first of the day on an assist from Yesko at the 2:02 mark of the second quarter as YSU headed into halftime down 6-3.
After an early second-half goal by the Panthers, the Penguins scored back-to-back goals as Shearer scored her first of the season and Calandra-Ryan scored her second of the day.
Pittsburgh proceeded to go on a six-goal run that ended at the 12:06 mark of the final quarter before the Guins caught fire heading into the final minutes.
Youngstown State will open Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, April 1 as they host Robert Morris at Farmers National Bank Field. First draw against the Colonials is set for 1 p.m.
