GAFFNEY, S.C.- The No. 4 Limestone College women's lacrosse team suffered its first defeat of the season as Belmont Abbey shocked the Lady Saints with a 12-10 win on Wednesday afternoon at Saints Field. The Lady Saints stand at 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the league after today's Conference Carolinas result. The Crusaders climb to 9-3 overall (7-3 conference).

Katie Ilott (Whitby, Ontario, Canada) scored four goals for Limestone. Lauryn Wise (Pasadena, Md.) scored two goals from free-position attempts. Renee Albro (Purcellville, Va.) and Melissa Howard (Ferndale, Md.) each scored twice. Albro and Wise also tallied assists.

The Abbey was led by Samantha Hooker's (Salisbury, Md.) four goals, while Shannon Farden (Oswego, N.Y.) added three. Tara Chmil (Lake Mary, Fla.) and Kerri Gut (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) tallied two goals apiece, while Megan Darley (Oviedo, Fla.) scored once.

The Abbey held the 8-6 scoring advantage in the first period, and s won the first draw of the game. Darley scored her team's first goal just 50 seconds into the half. Limestone grabbed the 2-1 lead with goals from Howard and Wise, but the Abbey tied the score once again after goals from Farden and Chmil.

The scoring was back-and-forth throughout the rest of the first half. The Crusaders had a 7-5 advantage after Hooker's goal at the 5:40 mark, but the Lady Saints had a goal from Wise to cut the visitor's lead to one. Hooker scored a goal with only four seconds left in the half to give her team a two-point margin at halftime. Limestone struggled with clears in the opening period as the Lady Saints had three broken clears out of five attempts.

Each team scored four goals in the second half. Chmil scored just over a minute into the period to extend the Abbey's lead, 9-6, but Limestone found a spark as Ilott put her team back in the running with three consecutive goals. The visitors responded with three straight goals that went unanswered until Ilott scored Limestone's final goal with 36 seconds left in the game.

Brigid Milchling (Cockeysville, Md.) posted five saves for Limestone. Erin Growney (Rochester, N.Y.) posted a team-high two caused turnovers and three draw controls.

Farden got four draw controls and three ground balls for the Crusaders. Laurie Jordan (Davidsonville, Md.) posted three draw controls. Kate Gavin (Pasadena, Md.), the Abbey's starting goalkeeper, had two saves in the opening 42 minutes as she gave up nine goals. Sarah Wheat (Crofton, Md.) finished out the game as she only allowed one goal and made five saves.

The Crusaders held the edge on shots, 21-18, and draw controls, 13-11. The guests were 9-10 in clears while the Lady Saints finished the game 8-11. Limestone posted 11 ground balls to the Abbey's 9.

The Lady Saints host Queens University for a Conference Carolinas match on April 1 at 4:00 p.m. The Abbey heads to Annapolis, Md., to play C.W. Post on March 28 at 1:00 p.m. at the Severn School.

Score by Period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  8  4 - 12
Limestone...........  6  4 - 10
 
Belmont Abbey SCORING:
GOALS: Samantha Hooker 4; Shannon Farden 3; Tara Chmil 2; Kerri Gut 2;
       Megan Darley 1.
ASSISTS: Brianna Dignan 3; Tara Chmil 2; Shannon Farden 1; Samantha Hooker 1.
 
Limestone SCORING:
GOALS: Ilott, Katie 4; Wise, Lauryn 2; Albro, Renee 2; Howard, Melissa 2.
ASSISTS: Albro, Renee 1; Wise, Lauryn 1.
 
Shots by period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Belmont Abbey....... 11 10 - 21
Limestone...........  8 10 - 18
 
Ground balls by prd   1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  7  2 -  9
Limestone...........  6  5 - 11
 
Turnovers by prd      1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  6  4 - 10
Limestone...........  6  2 -  8
 
Clears by period       1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  3-3   6-7  -  9-10
Limestone...........  2-5   6-6  -  8-11
 
Extra-man opps         1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  0-0   0-1  -  0-1
Limestone...........  0-0   0-0  -  0-0
 
Free-position shots    1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  1-1   0-2  -  1-3
Limestone...........  2-3   1-4  -  3-7
 
Saves by period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  2  5 -  7
Limestone...........  1  4 -  5
 
Draw controls by prd  1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Belmont Abbey.......  7  6 - 13
Limestone...........  8  3 - 11
 
PENALTIES - BAC 0/0:00; LCWL09 1/2:00.

2009-03-25