WASHINGTON, DC – The George Washington women's lacrosse team surrendered a pair of five-goal runs in the first half and No. 18 Towson withstood a four-goal rally late in the second half to defeat the Colonials, 13-7, at Mount Vernon Field Saturday afternoon.

Junior Taylor Donohue (Villanova, PA/Radnor) and sophomore Audrey Joy (Winchester, MA/Winchester) each scored two goals to pace GW (1-7), but Towson (4-1), which is ranked 18th in this week's Inside Lacrosse media Top 20, got five points from Meggie McNamara and a pair of goals from four different players to post its second consecutive win over the Colonials and its fourth win in six meetings all time.

The Tigers took control early with three goals in the opening 3:13 and tacked on two more before the midway point of the first period to lead 5-0 with just over 16 minutes to play. Sophomore Lauren Mobyed (Mineola, NY/Mineola) got GW on the scoreboard at the 14:25 mark and Donohue added a sliding strike on a pass from senior Alaska Burr (Marion, MA/Tabor Academy) less than four minutes later to close within 5-2.

Julie Ondrako ended the short rally with her first goal of the season on a free-position attempt with 9:40 to go in the half and the Tigers exploded for four more goals in the final 2:24 of the period, including Britt Woodfield's free-position tally as time expired, to led 10-2 at the break.

Ondrako, who also led all players with six ground balls, capped a 6-0 run which gave Towson its largest lead at 11-2 with 18:29 to play in the contest before GW began to find its offense. Donohue, Joy and freshman Sarah Phillips (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West) each had two points during a 4-0 run by the Colonials over a stretch of seven minutes late in the second half to make it 11-6 with 8:19 remaining.

However, senior Katie Lilly (Riva, MD/South River) was issued a yellow card with 7:41 to play and Nikki Marcinik responded with her second goal 43 seconds later to end the run and GW's comeback bid.

Donohue finished with two goals and an assist to bring her career point total to 72, which ranks ninth all-time in program history behind senior Katherine Sampson (Larchmont, NY/Mamaroneck), who added a goal with 25 seconds to play and ranks eighth with 78 career points and fifth all-time with 71 goals.

Sophomore goalkeeper Liz Hoffman (Owings Mills, MD/Beth Tfiloh) made 15 saves, her second-most of the season, on 36 shots faced, while Mary Teeters (seven saves) and Kristy Hankinson (two) combined for nine stops on 18 shots faced for the Tigers. Hoffman, Lilly and Burr each won three ground balls to pace the Colonials. Lilly leads GW with 22 ground balls this season and now ranks third all-time with 117.

Towson played without All-American midfielder Hillary Fratzke, who missed her second straight game, while GW leading scorer Mia Breheny (Alexandria, VA/Bishop Ireton) played just 10 minutes after suffering a leg injury in the first half.

GW concludes its non-conference schedule at Johns Hopkins Thursday at 4:00 pm.

2009-03-14