LORETTO, Pa. (April 11, 2009) - Chelsea Kent (Winter Springs, Fla./Winter Springs) had a six-point effort but the Saint Francis lacrosse team couldn't overcome the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils and dropped a 16-15 decision in Loretto on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Flash, who fall to 1-10 overall and 0-7 in the Northeast Conference, will wrap up their season with home contests against Robert Morris and Manhattan next weekend.
The two teams traded goals off the bat, with Ashley Mara scoring for the Blue Devils and Brittany Kovacs (Oshawa, Ontario/R.S. McLaughlin CVI) netting one for the Flash. Pariss Townsend-Griffin (Silver Spring, Md./Elizabeth Seton) sending a pass over to Kate Simmons (Delran, N.J./Delran) who scored less than two minutes into the first half.
Alexa Smead put two past Danielle Pokusa (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) to put CCSU up 3-2. The Blue Devils then scored five more times to take an 8-2 lead with 17:30 remaining in the first half.
Kent tallied her first two of the day back-to-back halfway through the period. Jenna Griffiths (Loveland, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) put on in on a feed from Meghan Crosby (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) to shrink the deficit to just three. Stephanie John scored twice and Kent and Smead traded goal as the Red Flash ended the half down 11-6.
Kovacs started the scoring off in the second half a well before Kent scored again to cut the Blue Devils lead to three. CCSU scored twice more, and Catherine Helming (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) tallied her first of the day with 17:09 left to play in the game.
Meg Lamarche (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) sent a pass over to Kent, who put her fifth of the day past Blue Devils goalkeeper Alice Lee. CCSU tallied another before Helming scored again with 11:53 remaining.
Simmons put a free position shot past Lee, but CCSU was able to score again to keep a 15-12 advantage. Kent fed Sheri Fort (Sicklerville, N.J./Washington Township) who tallied her first of the game with just less than 10 minutes to go.
Simmons scored two back-to-back goals to tie the game at 15 apiece with 3:45 left to play. However, Lyndsey Mastandrea netted the game winner for the Blue Devils less than a minute later, and the Red Flash were forced to take a 16-15 loss.
Saint Francis outshot CCSU 48-40 throughout sixty minutes of action, forcing Lee to make 27 saves. Pokusa was again strong in net, coming up with a number of key stops and making nine overall.
The Red Flash controlled the draw 17 times; with Kovacs grabbing a team-leading five draw controls. Simmons, who put up a five-point effort, had five of the team's 35 ground balls.
