Box Score

WESTMINSTER, Md. – It came down the wire, but the No. 13 Susquehanna women's lacrosse team fended off McDaniel to come out on the winning side of a 15-14 decision to improve to 9-0 on the season.

In what was a back-and-forth game, the Crusaders led by four goals with only 2:17 left in the game but the Green Terror (4-3) rattled off three goals over a span of just 1:53 but ultimately fell short as SU hung for the win.

Emma Ehler (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) and Annie McElaney (Natick, Mass./Natick) each finished with four goals apiece while Michelle McGinniss (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) finished with a hat trick and won seven draw controls for the Crusaders (9-0) to go along with three ground balls and one caused turnover.

SU goalie Emily Stankaitis (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) finished with nine saves and the SU defense forced 27 McDaniel turnovers with Stankaitis causing three of those turnovers.

McDaniel opened the scoring less than six minutes into the game before McGinnis and Ehler netted back-to-back goals within a 13-second span for a 2-1 SU lead.

Ehler and McGinniss again scored consecutive goals for a 4-2 score and McElaney kept the Crusaders ahead 5-4 with a goal, her first of the game, with 15:32 left in the opening half.

Tied at four with 16:06 left, McElaney and Lindsey Derstine (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) scored two-straight goals for a 6-4 SU lead but McDaniel ended the half by scoring three unanswered goals to put Susquehanna in a 7-6 hole at halftime.

The Crusaders did not let that phase them as they came out of halftime and put together two more back-to-back goals that put SU back in the lead at 8-7.

Ehler went on to score two unassisted goals in a 35-second span that kept Susquehanna in the lead at 10-8. That sparked a 5-1 SU run that upped the team's lead to a game-high four goals (15-11) and ran the clock down to 2:17.

The Green Terror managed to respond with that limited time, however, scoring three goals in just over a 60-second span for a 15-14 game and 49 ticks left on the clock.

Fortunately McDaniel's scoring streak ended there and the Crusaders preserved their 15-14 win.

The women return home on March 28 to open their Landmark Conference season with a 6 p.m. game against Drew.