ERIE, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's lacrosse team was defeated by seventh-ranked Mercyhurst by a score of 19-9 on Saturday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover contest at Tullio Field.
 
Freshman Amanda Lehman (York, Pa./West York Area) got things rolling for Kutztown (5-4, 1-4 PSAC) with her second goal of the season at the 26:35 mark in the first half. Only 27 seconds later, however, Mercyhurst (7-1, 4-0) answered right back with a goal of its own. The teams kept trading runs of goals which ultimately left the game at 9-6 in favor of Mercyhurst at the half.
 
Mercyhurst would go on to outscore Kutztown in the second half, 10-3, to give itself the 19-9 victory.
 
Lauren Huggins (Media, Pa./Penncrest) did all she could to keep the Golden Bears within striking distance as she tallied a game-high five goals. Huggins also recorded four draw controls and caused a turnover.
 
Sarah Gabriele (Felton, Pa./York Catholic) notched two goals of her own, while picking up two groundballs. Lehman and Lauren Schmidt (Hanover, Pa./South Western) rounded out the offense for the Maroon and Gold with one goal each.
 
Courtney O'Neill (Stratford, N.J./Sterling), Madison Carlucci (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) and Lehman led the team with three groundballs each. O'Neill also caused one turnover in the game, which gave her 84 caused turnovers in her career. She now has the most caused turnovers in program history as she passed Marisa Kalodner's previous record of 83.  
 
Abby Cox (York, Pa./West York) finished the game with seven saves for the Golden Bears.
 
Olivia Keirn and Kristin Anderson paced the offense for the Mercyhurst Lakers as they tallied four goals each. Janelle Williams contributed to the win with three goals.
 
Kutztown returns to action on Tuesday, March 29, at 4 p.m. in non-conference play against Philadelphia University at Keystone Field.