LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis women's lacrosse team earned its first conference win, beating LIU Brooklyn 13-10, on Sunday afternoon at DeGol Field.
 
The Flash improves to 4-7 on the season and 1-1 in the NEC, while the Blackbirds falls to 4-8 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
 
Holly Lawrence (Damascus, Md./Damascus) led the Flash with five goals, while Jessica Mazzur (Dallastown, Pa./York Catholic) added three. Sarah Mahon (Malverne, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) tallied three goals and three assists. Heather McKee (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright Bel Air) made nine stops in net and added a team-high five ground balls.
 
The Flash scored three goals in under five minutes from Lawrence, Mahon and Mazzur to take an early 3-0 lead in the first period. The Blackbirds would answer with two straight goals to pull within one at 3-2.
 
Lawrence would score her second goal of the first half at the 19:37 mark to put the Flash ahead, 4-2. LIU responded with a goal before Lawrence recorded her third goal of the first half to give SFU a 5-3 lead.
 
LIU scored again to cut the deficit to one at 5-4. Lawrence scored again to end an eight-minute scoring drought and SFU headed into the half with a 6-4 advantage.
 
Saint Francis picked up were they left, scoring four unanswered goals to take a 10-4 lead. LIU would outscore SFU, 4-1, with just 3:15 left to play. Katie Schaaf (Ellicott City, Md./Hebron) and Lawrence would score just 18 seconds apart to pull ahead, 13-8. The Blackbirds would add to more goals with just nine seconds left, but the Flash would hang on for the 13-10 victory.
 
Saint Francis hits the road next weekend for a pair of conference games against Bryant and CCSU.