By Matt Faulkner
(Hamilton, NY – March 2, 2013) The Colgate women’s lacrosse team held a 6-4 advantage at halftime, but UMBC responded by outscoring the Raiders, 9-1, in the second half to earn the 13-7 win on Saturday afternoon.
Colgate (2-2) was led by rookie Lauren Gorajek with a hat trick, while Kate Sheridan and Megan Ark added two points on a goal and an assist each. Jennie Berglin got the start in net and made seven stops.
UMBC (3-1) saw Alyssa Semones lead the way with five points on four goals and an assist, while Shannon Harkey tallied four goals as well. Abby Wilson added four points on a goal and three helpers. Kendall Mason made seven saves with three coming in the second half as she gave up just one score for the Raiders.
The Raiders jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the first 13:43 of the opening half. Gorajek led the way with a pair of goals, while Alison Flood, Ark and Sheridan also scored. Colgate built the advantage thanks to four-straight goals and held the Retrievers scoreless for seven minutes.
The teams then scored only a combined three goals during the finals 14 minutes. Harkey added her second of the game and Semones put her first goal on the board. Gorajek completed the hat trick with an unassisted goal during the stretch and Colgate had a 6-4 lead at the half.
The second half was all the Retrievers as they outscored Colgate by a 9-1 advantage in the final 30 minutes. They got started right from the beginning of the half and recorded seven-straight goals to build up an 11-6 lead. Semones was the top scorer with three goals, while Harkey and Wilson added goals. Kristen Bilney and Kris Coppolino scored the final two goals during the run.
The Raiders were able to get one back with Brooke Flanagan scoring her first of the season to make it 11-7 Retrievers. However, UMBC was able to stall for long periods of time to keep Colgate out of the offensive end. Harkey pushed the lead up to 12-7 with an unassisted goal then Sam Nolan put the game away with a player-up goal with 29 seconds left as Berglin was out of the cage.
Colgate will be back in action this coming Tuesday at Cornell, beginning at 4 p.m. in Ithaca.