KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Sophomore Sarah Gabriele (Felton, Pa./York Catholic) scored four goals in her seventh hat-trick of the season as the Kutztown University women's lacrosse team took down the Edinboro Fighting Scots on Friday afternoon, 11-10, in a tight one-goal victory in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup at Keystone Field.
 
Kutztown (6-5, 2-4 PSAC) got out to a strong start against Edinboro (5-5, 1-5) with two goals in a 14-second span starting at the 24:42 mark in the first half. Lauren Huggins (Media, Pa./Penncrest) scored the first goal of the game for KU and Gabriele followed with a goal of her own 14 seconds later to put the Golden Bears in front early with a 2-0 advantage.
 
The Fighting Scots struck right back with two goals in a row in the next 1:30 of action to knot the score up at 2-2. Gabriele scored her second and third goals of the game at the 22:13 and 14:22 marks in the first half to give KU a 4-2 lead midway through the first half.
 
Both teams traded goals back-and-forth for the remainder of the second half, but KU got the last goal of the half with just three seconds on the clock when Lauren Schmidt (Hanover, Pa./South Western) found the back of the net on an assist from Emily Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Hubert Catholic) right out of a timeout. The Golden Bears went into the half with a 7-5 lead over Edinboro.
 
Edinboro scored three of the first four goals in the second half within the first eight minutes of action to tie the game up at 8-8 with 22:24 to play in the contest. Makayla Bowman (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) connected for a goal with just under 19 minutes to play on an assist from Huggins to take the 9-8 lead.
 
The Fighting Scots tied it up at the 14:53 mark in the second half on Emily Peters' 26th goal of the season, but KU persevered with back-to-back goals at the 11:19 and 5:05 marks in the second half. Smith's goal at the 11:19 mark gave KU a 10-9 lead, while Schmidt scored her second goal of the game with just over five minutes to play to push the Golden Bear lead to 11-9.
 
Edinboro cut the KU lead to one at 11-10 with just under three minutes to play, but the Golden Bears hung on for the impressive one-goal victory.
 
Gabriele had a game-high four goals on 10 shots to go with a game-high five draw controls. It was her seventh hat-trick of the season and 12th of her career. Gabriele now ranks eighth all-time in school history with 83 career points. She also scored her 32nd goal of the season, tied for ninth in KU history. Gabriele has two of the top-10 single-season goal totals in team history with 33 in 2015 and 32 so far in 2016.
 
Huggins scored three goals in the win and posted a game-high three assists (ties career-high). Schmidt had two goals, while Bowman and Smith each connected on one goal each for the Golden Bears.
Haley Romoser (Stewartstown, Pa./Kennard-Dale) posted a career-high seven groundballs and caused two turnovers. Junior Courtney O'Neill (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) contributed to the win with four caused turnovers, three groundballs and two draw controls. O'Neill now has 76 career draw controls, tying her for fourth all-time in KU history with former Golden Bear, Megan Schwar.
 
Goalkeeper Jen Bergey (Souderton, Pa./Souderton) improved her record to 5-1 on the season. She recorded 11 saves and tied her career-high with six groundballs.
 
The Golden Bears' six wins this season are the most for the team since the program was reinstated in 2008. This is also just the second time since 2008 that KU has recorded two or more PSAC wins.
 
Kutztown returns to action tomorrow afternoon at Keystone Field for its Senior Day game against Slippery Rock University at 2 p.m. Seniors Cara Lord (Media, Pa./Penncrest) and Riley Patrone (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) will be honored by the Golden Bears before tomorrow's game begins.