SCRANTON, Pa.-The University of Scranton women's lacrosse team managed only two goals in the final 35 minutes of play in dropping a 17-10 decision to Drew University in Landmark Conference action Friday afternoon at Fitzpatrick Field.

Ranger sophomore goalie Rachel Hanley (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) played a major role in the Royals' offensive woes, making 11 of her game-high 15 saves in the second half as Drew improved to 6-6 overall and moved into a tie with 11th-ranked Catholic University for first place in the Landmark Conference with a 3-0 record. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Scranton, now 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

Sophomore midfielder Stacie Brown (Upper Marlboro, Md./Calverton School) led the Rangers with six goals and an assist and sophomore attacker Cara Jeffries (Central Square, N.Y./Paul V. Moore) finished with five goals.

Drew, which held a 19-11 advantage in draw controls, also received two goals and two assists from freshman midfielder Lyndsay Rossi (Pennington, N.J./The Pennington School), two goals from freshman attacker Aileen Musynske (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park Memorial) and a goal apiece from sophomore attacker Rebecca Schild (Princeton, N.J./Princeton) and junior attacker Samantha Silver (East Brunswick, N.J./East Brunswick).

Junior attacker Kristen Marquino (Baldwin, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) led the Royals with three goals, senior attacker Madelyn Sminkey (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) had two goals and two assists, and senior attacker Erin Quinn (Baltimore, Md./The Institute of Notre Dame) and sophomore midfielder Kristin Pickell (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) contributed two goals each.

The game seesawed back and forth during the opening 24 minutes of the first half. There were two lead changes and three ties before Musynske gave the Rangers the lead for good with an unassisted goal at the 25:14 mark. Brown then scored unassisted goals at the 26:56 and 29:30 marks as Drew settled for an 11-8 lead by intermission. Brown finished with five goals in the opening 30 minutes of play.

Back-to-back goals by Rossi and Musynske in the opening nine minutes of the second half extended the Rangers lead to five, 13-8, before Scranton picked up some momentum behind an unassisted goal by Marquino and another by Quinn on a play set up by Sminkey to cut the lead to three, 13-10, with 11 minutes remaining.

Twenty seconds after Quinn's goal, Jeffries answered with an unassisted goal to change the tide back in Drew's favor. The Rangers added three more goals-one each by Jeffries, Silver, and Brown-in the final 10 minutes of play to set the final score.

Drew has now won the last five meetings against Scranton and leads the all-time series, 11-3.

Junior goalie Cassie Murphy (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) finished with six saves for the Royals. Senior Diana Rocklein (Islip Terrace, N.Y./East Islip) scored the 96th goal of her career at the 7:39 mark of the first half and finished with six ground balls, five caused turnovers, and two draw controls.

Scranton will return to action next Tuesday, April 14, against the Cougars of Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

2009-04-10