Moon Township, Pa. - Juniors Pam DeGuffroy (Irwin, Pa. / Norwin) and Brittanny Smith (Owen Sound, Ontario / West Hill Secondary) each scored a pair of goals but it wasn’t enough as the Quinnipiac Bobcats handed the Robert Morris University women’s lacrosse team their first loss in Northeast Conference play, 12-7, at Joe Walton Stadium this afternoon.

Sophomore Ashley Levering (Glenwood, Md. / Glenelg) paced the Colonials on offense scoring a goal and picking up two assists for three points en route to extending her point streak to 13 games. Sophomore Kara Blakeley (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine Richland) nabbed a goal and an assist while Sophomore Bethany Mahaffey (Edgewater, Md. / Annapolis Area Christian) scored a goal. Sophomore Jenn Collins (Edgewater, Md. / South River) picked up two assists in the game.

In the midst of monsoon like weather, Quinnipiac took off in the storm on a three-goal run to open up the game. Ashley Valentine got the ball rolling with her first of four goals at the 28:44. The Bobcats added two more at 26:02 and 24:39.

RMU broke up the early run when DeGuffroy got the Colonials on the board with her first at 23:27 followed by a Mahaffey goal no more than 25 seconds later, cutting the lead to one.

The Bobcats extended their lead with another three goal run forcing Robert Morris to burn an early timeout. After the break, DeGuffroy added her second of the match to get the home team within three. While Quinnipiac would add one more, Smith would get her first of the game to keep the deficit within three goals.

Quinnipiac broke away late in the half when they manufactured their third three-goal run of the stanza, holding a six goal advantage with two minutes to play.

Levering broke up the Bobcats scoring drive when she picked up her only goal of the game at 1:53, ending the scoring for the first half with RMU facing a 10-5 deficit.

The second half proved to be a different story for both teams’ offenses as each squad would only score two goals for the entire 30 minutes. Robert Morris pulled within four at the beginning of the second half when Blakeley added her 11th goal of the year at 27:03 while Smith found the back of the net for her second of the game at 9:51.

Quinnipiac controlled the pace of the second half, playing a ball possession offense that ate up the clock and limited the oppositions scoring chance en route to their fourth NEC victory of the season.

Despite the 12-7 score, both teams remained dead even in shots with 27 a piece while Robert Morris held the advantage in ground balls, 17-16, and draw controls with Sophomore Emily Tomlinson (Springfield, Va. / West Springfield) winning six of the Colonials 14 for the game.

As well as the two goals scored, DeGuffroy set a season best for the Colonials, causing five turnovers in the game. Freshman Erica Webb (Arnold, Md. / Broadneck) had seven saves and a season high four ground balls in goal for Robert Morris.

The Robert Morris women’s lacrosse team heads to the road this week to get into the thick of Northeast Conference play, facing Long Island on Thursday, April 5, in New York and then on Saturday, April 7, against Monmouth in New Jersey. Game times are set for 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m.

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Redshirt freshman goaltender Hannah Nelson broke a school record and the Quinnipiac University women's lacrosse team matched two program records en route to a 12-7 victory over Robert Morris at Joe Walton Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

With her sixth victory today, Nelson now holds the school record for wins by a freshman goaltender. Two-time All-NEC pick Megan Matthews' five victories as a freshman in 2000 was the previous school record. The team also matched two program records for winning its fourth consecutive game and matching its best start in conference play with a perfect record still intact.

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2007-04-01