Fairfield, Conn. - The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team rallied from an early hole, but Sacred Heart scored the final four goals to win an important Northeast Conference matchup 13-9 on Friday afternoon at Campus Field.

Junior midfielder Brittany Byerly led the Colonials (9-6, 2-4 NEC) offensively with three points (1g, 2a), while Emily Jamison and Dana Davis each scored twice, but the loss put them in a tight spot in the race for the postseason.

The top four teams in the standings make the NEC tournament, so RMU must defeat LIU Brooklyn (7-8, 3-3 NEC) on Sunday to have a shot at their second consecutive playoff berth. Friday's loss also kept Sacred Heart (6-9, 2-4 NEC) alive in the championship pursuit, with the Pioneers hosting last-place Saint Francis on Sunday.

"Since we still have an opportunity to go to the tournament, that is a lot of motivation in itself," said Byerly, who has 34 goals on the season and 47 total points.

RMU is the highest-scoring team in the NEC, but that offensive might showed only in spurts against a stingy Sacred Heart team that has now held four consecutive opponents to fewer than 10 goals. However, the Colonials came back from a pair of three-goal deficits to draw even on two occasions in the second half.

Robert Morris put together four separate two-goal bursts to overcome Sacred Heart's early 3-0 lead, with Jamison and sophomore Katie Breeze netting goals 1:01 apart to tie the game 9-9 with 11:38 to go. But the Pioneers put four in a row past Colonials goaltenders Hallie Yancey and Mackenzie Duffy to clinch a season-saving win.

Sacred Heart's late push was fueled by the possession it got from 15 draw controls and 13 Robert Morris turnovers.

In a relatively slow-paced game, the Colonials created just 16 shots, their second-lowest total of the season. They converted on nine of those shots for a 56 percent rate, the fourth time this spring they've connected on more than half of their attempts in a match.

"What we have to work on is getting more shots and we'll see the back of the net more," said Byerly, a product of Wexford, Pa., and Pine-Richland High School. "We just had some unforced turnovers that made a big difference in the grand scheme of things."

RMU leading scorer Kristin Yoviene added two points (1g, 1a) to her season total, giving her 62 (36g, 26a) in her senior year. The native of Easton, Md., tied Jenn Collins for second place on the Colonials' all-time scoring list, with 165; Yoviene has gotten at least one point in all 15 games this season.

Freshman midfielder Davis picked up three ground balls, as did goalie Yancey, who earned her seventh start in the past eight games. The sophomore made five saves on 15 on-target shots in nearly 51 minutes of action.

Emma Baukhages, Katie Breeze and Corey Karwacki also scored for RMU, which no longer can ensure a postseason spot with a Sunday victory alone. Rather, the Colonials must hope for a win and a Sacred Heart loss, or else a three-way tie will ensue for the final NEC tournament position. Tiebreakers for that situation can be found here.

"We're just going to have to come out, play hard and implement everything we've been working on recently," Byerly said. "If we can do that, I definitely see a spot in that tournament for our team."

Follow the RMU women's lacrosse team on Twitter and Instagram.