DeLand, Fla. – The Youngstown State women's lacrosse team led 9-8 at halftime but fell to Stetson's strong second-half performance in a 21-13 loss at the Athletic Training Center on Monday afternoon.
The Penguins fall to 0-5 on the season while the Hatters improve to 2-2.
Freshman goalie Paige Borkowski recorded the most saves in a single game in program history with 20. Borkowski faced a 62-shot barrage by the Hatters and recorded a .488 save percentage.
Kayla Stecker delivered career-highs in both ground balls (6) and caused turnovers (5). Both these metrics rank second in program history for single-game marks.
Lena Cox scored a career-high four goals to lead the Penguins' scoring effort while Ava Kreutzer delivered her first collegiate hat trick. Brooke Peck and Genna Cooke also found the back of the net multiple times, each scoring two goals. Grace Rund and Ally Garrett accounted for the Penguins' other two goals.
Madison Maciag led the Penguins in assists with two while Katie Grottenthaler and Peck each made one. Leading YSU in draw controls was Grottenthaler with five while Mia Stahl collected four.
Stetson's offensive effort was spearheaded by Jordan Humphrey who scored eight goals and made three assists for 11 points.
YSU ended the first half with a one-point lead, 9-8, after scoring three of the first four goals and then closing out the half with four unanswered.
Cooke began the charge at the 13:09 mark of the first quarter before Stetson's Humphrey scored her first of eight just over a minute later to make the score 1-1.
Cox and Kreutzer scored their firsts of the day midway through the quarter to give YSU an early 3-1 lead over the Hatters. Stetson scored three goals to close out the first quarter with a 5-4 lead.
The Hatters struck first in the second quarter, but Garrett scored her fifth of the season at the 12:51 mark to make the score 6-5. After two goals by Stetson, YSU scored four unanswered as both Cox and Kreutzer delivered two apiece to record first-half hat tricks and send the Penguins to halftime with a 9-8 lead.
In the second-half, Stetson would outscore Youngstown State 13-4 to come away with the victory. In the third quarter Cox scored her tenth goal of the season while Peck scored her third to make the score 14-11 headed into the final quarter.
YSU scored two at the start of the fourth with Peck and Cooke finding the back of the net to get within one of the Hatters, 14-13, but Stetson closed out the game with seven unanswered to make the final score 21-13.
Stetson outdrew the Penguins 24-14, but YSU recorded 23 ground balls compared to Stetson's three. The Penguins relied on quality shots in the matchup, scoring 13 goals on just 19 shots compared to Stetson's 21 goals on 62 shots.
Youngstown State will open a three-game homestand on Saturday as they host Longwood at Farmers National Bank Field. First draw against the Lancers is set for noon.
