KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Emma Meakim (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) and Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) both tallied four goals and the Kutztown University women's lacrosse team erased a three-goal deficit, but eventually fell to Shepherd University 17-14 Tuesday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Divisional game at Keystone Field.
 
The Golden Bears (4-6 overall, 1-5 PSAC) found themselves trailing 5-2 midway through the second quarter, but scored three of the next four goals in the final 9:52 of the quarter and were behind 6-5 at halftime. Meakim and Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) opened up the third quarter with back-to-back goals to give Kutztown its first lead of the game at 7-6, 4:07 into the third.
 
The KU lead, however, would not last long as the Rams (4-6, 2-4) scored four in-a-row to end the third quarter and tallied eight of the next nine goals overall to stake to a 14-8 advantage with 8:39 left in the game.
 
The Maroon and Gold gave themselves a chance as they pulled to within just three goals, 15-12, with 2:35 to go, following back-to-back goals from ElBouazzaoui and Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills). But Shepherd called timeout and won the ensuing draw control, then went down the field and found the back of the net to go up by four with 1:07 left.
 
Graf, Lake and Olivia Eilbacher (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic) each recorded two goals. Meakim totaled a season-high five caused turnovers and tied Robin Spector (Northfield, N.J./Mainland Regional) with a team-best five ground balls. ElBouazzaoui won a team-high eight draw controls.
 
Kutztown will look to stop a three-game losing streak when it travels to Philadelphia to take on Jefferson University in a makeup game this Friday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m.

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