The Youngstown State women's lacrosse team opened conference play with an impressive effort against the Mid-American Conference preseason favorites, Robert Morris, in a 12-10 loss on a windy day at Farmers National Bank Field.
The Penguins fall to 2-8 on the season and 0-1 in the MAC while the Colonials improve to 3-6 and 1-0 in conference play.
Sophomore Natalie Calandra-Ryan scored the 100th goal of her career, becoming the first Penguin to reach the milestone and doing so in just two seasons of play.
Ali Korin matched a career-high with seven points on the day, scoring five goals and adding two assists.
Five different Penguins combined for the remaining five YSU goals: Erin Clark, Jordan Miller, Dany Emler, Ally Garrett, and Calandra-Ryan. Clark added two assist for three points on the day.
Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Jacqueline Cornell entered the game mid-second quarter and impressed in the net. She made eight saves in just over 40 minutes of play, only allowing four goals for a .667 save percentage.
Colleen Tifft led Robert Morris' scoring effort with four goals while Kelsey Nelson scored three.
The Penguins were off to a slow start when the Colonials opened the contest with four straight goals.  Then, YSU scored three of the next four spearheaded by two Korin goals, one off an assist from Clark and one off a free-position attempt. Korin's scores were followed by Calandra-Ryan's milestone goal, scored at the 2:48 mark of the first quarter, to make the score 5-3.
The Penguins and Colonials exchanged goals to end the first quarter, with YSU's coming again by Korin to deliver a hat trick in just one quarter of play, making the score 6-4.
Robert Morris opened the second quarter with a four-goal run to take a six-point lead, 10-4, with 7:03 remaining until halftime.
Following the Colonials' run, the Guins scored back-to-back when Miller fired a Korin pass into the net followed by a goal by Clark off a free-position attempt. RMU delivered one more score before halftime to manage a five-point lead, 11-6, headed into the second half.
With Cornell at goalie, YSU held the Colonials scoreless in the third quarter while putting up three goals of their own by three different Penguins: Korin, Emler, and Garrett. The Penguins entered the final quarter down by just two after scoring five of the last six goals.
It was a slow fourth quarter for both teams as each only found the back of the net once. With 40 seconds left to play, Korin scored her fifth goal of the day to make the final score 12-10.
The Penguins will return to action on the road for a midweek conference matchup against Akron on Wednesday. First draw is set for 5 p.m. on Summa Field at InfoCision Stadium.
