Moon Township, Pa– The comeback effort fell short on Saturday afternoon as the Colonials women's lacrosse team lost at home to Canisius, 8-7.

With the loss, the Colonials fall to 1-8 on the season. Additionally, Canisius now moves to 7-1 on the year.

1^st HALF
RMU got the scoring started four minutes into the contest when Colleen Tifft found Jenna Irwin wide open in front of the net to secure the first goal of the game. The Colonials wouldn't score again in the quarter as Canisius tied the game at the 1:30 mar courtesy of a man up goal. The Golden Griffins out shot the Colonials 9-3 in the first frame but the score remained tied at one.
Canisius opened the scoring less then two minutes into the second quarter but their lead wouldn't last long as the Colonials tied the contest at the 11:47 mark. Freshman Julia Hadden registered her first career goal on a free position shot that was mishandled by the goalkeeper. Hadden's tally was the lone goal for RMU in the second quarter as the Colonials found themselves trailing by one heading into the break.

2^ND HALF
The third quarter wasn't too kind to the Colonials as they got outscored 3-1 in the frame and were also out shot 9-3 as the Golden Griffins peppered the net. The lone goal for RMU in the third quarter was courtesy of Lilli Hadden as she cut the Canisius lead to just one with 4:55 remaining in the frame. Unfortunately for the Colonials, Canisius ended the third frame with two goals to make the score now 6-3 heading into the final quarter.
RMU found themselves down by five with 12:20 remaining in the game when the Colonials offense started to take over. The Colonials scored three goals in three minutes, two of which came from Jenna Irwin who finished the game with a hat trick. RMU scored their last goal of the game with 4:33 left when Lilli Hadden notched her second tally to make the score 8-7. The Colonials scored four goals in the fourth quarter on six shots as they capitalized on most of their opportunities.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Jenna Irwin led all players with three goals on three shots while also recording three draw controls in the game. Lilli Hadden secured yet another multi-goal performance against Canisius as she also added an assist. Jerica Obee and Julia Hadden each scored one goal for RMU with Julia adding two ground balls in her best showing as a Colonial. Freshman Megan Shepley recorded her first start in net for RMU as she tallied 11 saves and four ground balls.

FAMILY TIES
Lilli and Julia Hadden each scored a goal for the Colonials today as they became the first pair of sisters to score in the same game since Melanie and Mackenzie Gandy tallied a goal back on May 6, 2021.

UP NEXT
The Colonials will begin conference play tomorrow afternoon as they welcome Akron to Joe Walton Stadium on Sunday. The game is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.