WASHINGTON - The American University women's lacrosse team fell to Holy Cross on Saturday, 16-12, as AU celebrated the careers of six senior student-athletes on senior day. Four Eagle seniors recorded a goal in their final game led by Leslie Fischer's three-goal day.

American (3-13, 1-5) came out firing first as Fischer scored her first goal to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 27 seconds into the game. Holy Cross responded with back-to-back goals to take their first lead before senior Kira Sonberg tied the game at two on her first goal with 24:15 on the clock. The Crusaders scored three straight goals to break the tie and with 8:16 to play held a 7-3 lead.

Fischer scored her third goal of the half to bring AU to withing three, 7-4, but Holy Cross scored the games next three goals to take a 10-4 lead with 1:54 remaining. Amanda Makoid recorded her first goal of the afternoon off a free position attempt with nine seconds to play, sending the team's into the intermission with Holy Cross leading 10-5.

American opened the second half with a quick goal scored by Anne Marie Person to move the score to 10-6. The Eagles, however, would go scoreless over the next 15-plus minutes as Holy Cross extended its lead to 16-6. With 7:09 remaining Bernadette Maher tallied her lone goal of the day to open a 6-0 AU run to close out the game.

Six different Eagles scored during the stretch including goals from seniors Sonberg and Gina Ibello. American's surge was not enough to overcome Holy Cross's lead though as the Crusaders took the game by a final score of 16-12.

Fischer led the Eagles with three goals on three shots and also recorded one caused turnover. Makoid and Sonberg each scored twice on the day while Ibello notched one goal and two assists. Person added one goal and one ground ball in her final game as an Eagle. Senior defenders Whitney Kovar and Kathryn Tortorici also had big days for AU as Kovar tallied three ground balls and one caused turnover and Tortorici recorded three caused turnovers and two ground balls.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Junior Katie Gardner (Garden City, N.Y.) scored two goals and had a career-best four assists for six points as the Holy Cross women's lacrosse team defeated Patriot League opponent American, 16-12, on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Crusaders conclude the season with a 5-11 overall record (3-3 Patriot League), while the Eagles finish the year with a 3-13 record (1-5 Patriot League).

Gardner concludes the season with 25 assists on the year, which are third on the all-time Holy Cross single-season assists list. Her 50 points also led the team this year and her 25 goals tied for first.

Senior Calley Benoit (Concord, N.H.) and freshman Kat Sutton (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) each scored three goals. Sutton's three goals were a career-best. Junior Ali Baird (Wilbraham, Mass.) had two goals and junior Megan Fenton (Bridgewater, N.J.) had one goal and one assist for two points. Senior Samantha Hallowell (Duxbury, Mass.), sophomore Meg O'Leary (Longmeadow, Mass.), freshman Kayla DiBari (Holderness, N.H.), freshman Catherine Furman (Garden City, N.Y.) and freshman Caitie Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) each scored one goal, while sophomore Annie Boylan (Andover, Mass.) had one assist. The goal was Furman's first collegiate goal.

American was led by Leslie Fischer who scored three goals and Gina Ibello who had one goal and two assists for three points.

After American took an early 1-0 lead, Hallowell and Benoit scored goals to give Holy Cross a 2-1 lead. With the contest tied at 2-2, Benoit scored two straight goals with her second one on a free-position shot, and Sutton scored a goal to move the Crusaders out to a 5-2 lead. With the score now 5-3, Gardner found the back of the net and then Furman scored off a pass by Gardner to make it a 7-3 contest. After the Eagles scored, Holy Cross answered with three goals to increase the lead to 10-4. After Sutton scored, Fenton found the back of the net off an assist by Gardner and Baird scored off a pass by Boylan, but American scored with nine seconds left in the half to make the score 10-5.

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2009-04-18