Women’s Lacrosse comeback falls short at Mars Hill

Mars Hill, N.C. —- The Catawba College women's lacrosse team cut their deficit to two goals with just over three minutes remaining, but were unable to complete the comeback, falling at Mars Hill in their South Atlantic Conference opener at Meares Stadium. The Lions improve to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the SAC, while the Catawba Indians drop to 1-6 on the season and 0-1 in league play.

Mary Sorvillo continued her hot-scoring stretch, leading the team once again with three goals on four shots. Ella McCusker and Kylie Harris added two goals apiece, while Joey Baillie had a game-high three assists and recorded six ground balls and three caused turnovers. Madison Shaffer tied for a game-high with six draw controls and Evie Kauserud had seven saves in goal.

Mars Hill's offense got on the board early, scoring back-to-back goals in the game's first minute and seven seconds to take an early advantage. Sorvillo got the Catawba Indians on the board at the 11:37 mark, but the Lions struck for two more goals before the end of the quarter, leading 4-1 at the break.

MHU's Alexa Tazzetta made it a 5-1 lead for the Lions just over three minutes into the second quarter. Sorvillo and Caroline Cox responded with back-to-back goals, but Mars Hill scored late to return its lead to 6-3 going into halftime.

Catawba responded well to halftime adjustments, as Sorvillo, McCusker and Harris scored three of the first four goals of the second to cut their deficit to a single score at 7-6. Tazzetta scored on a free-position shot with eight seconds left in the period to give the Lions an 8-6 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes.

Harris returned to deficit to a single score early in the fourth quarter, scoring at the 13:43 mark to bring Catawba within a goal once again at 8-7. Mars Hill scored three consecutive goals in a five-minute span to open up their lead. While Baillie and McCusker scored back-to-back to cut Mars Hill's lead to two, Catawba was unable to find the back of the net in the game's final three minutes, as the comeback fell just short.

Catawba hosts 12th-ranked Wingate on Wednesday, continuing SAC play at Shuford Stadium at 4 p.m.