Saint Francis rallied to cut a 9-3 deficit to 9-8 in the third quarter, but the Lions scored five of the final six tallies to win in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
FLASH MOMENTS
The Red Flash's 6-0 run was fueled by two goals and one assist by Patten.
Christina Roncarati started the spurt unassisted at 3:53 before Patten set up Lacey at 1:26 in the second quarter. Hewitt connected with Patten as time expired in the half to go into the break trailing by three goals.
Victoria DiRenno got the scoring started in the second half on an 8-meter goal at 11:29 and Patten brought Saint Francis within one goal at 9-8 off a pass from
Elizabeth Mahmud.
Hewitt had a hand in the first two Red Flash tallies, converting a free-position attempt at 2:16 in the first quarter and assisting
Heather Delbone at 1:42 in the first quarter.
Before the six unanswered goals, Mahmud found the back of the net at 5:06 in the second quarter, while Lacey scored her second marker of the afternoon at 12:48 in the fourth quarter for the only score after the 6-0 spurt for the Red Flash.
FLASH NUGGETS
Patten tied her career-high with two goals in a game, a feat she also accomplished at Howard on March 29, 2023. The junior has four goals and six assists for 10 points this season after registering three goals and five assists in her first two seasons in Loretto.
Lacey, the current Northeast Conference (NEC) Player of the Week, registered her eighth multi goal performance of her career and has a team-best 10 goals for 10 points on the year.
Hewitt, the current NEC Rookie of the Week, registered the first multiple-assist game of her career and has scored in three of the four matches. She has six goals and three assists for nine points.
Mahmud added a goal and an assist to notch her second two-point performance of her career and her first match with a goal and an assist in the same contest.
DiRenno paced the defense with three draw controls, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls.
Chyler Espino added two ground balls and two draw controls. Espino moved back into the top 10 for career draw controls with 83 draws.
Taylor Coughlin registered 16 saves. The junior, who went over 200 saves against Duquesne on Saturday, recorded the second most saves in a single game in her career. She had a career-high 18 saves against Le Moyne on April 3, 2024.
Saint Francis was looking to open the home schedule with a win for the third straight season. The Red Flash had won back-to-back home openers three times.
NEXT ON TAP
Saint Francis hits the road for three games starting at Charlotte on Tuesday. Game time is 1 p.m.
