Lewisburg, Pa. – Robert Morris University women's lacrosse opened the 2017 season with a hard fought 11-10 loss at Bucknell University's Graham Field on Saturday.

Freshman midfielder Annie Sachs started her Robert Morris career strong with a two goal, four assist performance as the Colonials battled back from a 10-2 halftime deficit to fall by just one, outscoring the Bison 8-1 in the second half.

The Bison struck first on a goal by Corley Simons, 4:35 into the game. Less than two minutes later, Bucknell scored its second goal when Eve Lukowski found Christina Manis to double the Bison lead to 2-0. Bucknell added another pair of tallies, by Mary Margaret Kenny and Audrey Walsh, in a two-minute span to force an RMU timeout with 19:06 remaining in the first half.

The Colonials broke onto the scoreboard with 18:41 to go in the first half. The play started on the defensive end of the field with freshman Meghan Crouse causing a turnover and picking up a ground ball. RMU worked the ball up the field and sophomore Maggie Stella dished the ball to Sachs who scored her first career goal to make it a 4-1 game.

The teams battled back and forth for a stretch of seven minutes, forcing turnovers and keeping each other off the board. Bucknell's Bridget Shaffrey scored a man-up free position goal to put the Bison up 5-1 with 11:03 left in the half. Eve Lukowski added another goal with 10:00 to play in the half, before RMU struck back.

Sophomore Kerri Sayrafe found the back of the net with her first goal of the season, assisted by Sachs, closing the gap for the Colonials to make is 6-2 with 9:16 remaining in the first.

Bucknell scored four more times in the final 3:17 of the half, including a pair by Sarah Galzerano to take a 10-2 lead into the halftime break. The Colonials collected 11 ground balls in the first half, while Bucknell had 14 and handled the draw controls with a 10-3 advantage. Bison goaltender Jamie DeWitt made 5 saves in the first half to keep RMU from doing further damage.

Robert Morris came out strong in the second half, outscoring the Bison 8-1 the rest of the way.  Sachs scored her second goal of the game, a man-up goal 4:17 into the second half, assisted by Sophia Eureka. Bucknell's Morgan Steinhacker scored the only goal of the second half for the Bison roughly six minutes later.

With the score 11-3 Bucknell, Robert Morris strung together seven unanswered goals to pull within one. Stella, junior midfielder Dana Davis, and freshman midfielder Melanie Gandy each scored a pair of goals while Niki Grillon chipped in one. The second half rally came up just short, with the Colonials falling 11-10.

Sachs led the team with 6 points on two goals and four assists. Her four assists are tied for 9th most all-time in a single-game at RMU. Stella and Davis each finished with two goals and an assist, with Stella adding four caused turnovers and three ground balls to the scoresheet.

Megan Wolfgang led the defensive effort that kept Bucknell from doing damage in the second half. Wolfgang racked up seven ground balls and caused six turnovers. Kendall Noel chipped in three caused turnovers as well. Freshman goalkeeper Katelyn Miller made seven saves in her Colonials debut, five coming in the second half.

Up next, Robert Morris travels to face (#18/RV) Louisville on Sunday, February 12 for a 1:00pm game.

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