Stonehill Stifles Spartans in Monday Matchup

TAMPA, Fla. – Meeting its third ranked foe this season, the University of Tampa women's lacrosse team dropped its Monday matinee to No. 13 Stonehill College by a 10-5 final score.

The Spartans fall to 1-5 on the season while the visiting Skyhawks improve to 1-1.

The UT defense held the No. 13 team in division II  to just two goals in the opening period, limiting Stonehill to just eight shots.  Goalkeeper Caili Guilday stopped three in the opening half as the Tampa defensive unit was stifling the Skyhawks.

Senior Amanda Parker led the Spartan defense with three caused turnovers, two groundballs and a draw control.  Joining Parker with a strong defensive effort was sophomore Madison Creech, posting three caused turnovers to her credit in addition to a pair of groundballs.

Freshman Allie Popelar began the scoring for both teams, netting her fourth goal of the season thanks to an assist from fellow freshman Rachel Crawford. Stonehill attacker Linna Jalinskas scored a pair of goals before both team's respective defenses took control of the game.  After the second Jalinskas score at the 19:12 minute mark, neither team would add a goal for the remaining minutes of the first half, ending in a 2-1 advantage.

The second stanza began with the 10^th goal of the season for junior Amanda Voges.  The attacker delivered the game-tying goal with just over two minutes of play thanks to a strong pass from Amanda Rom.  At the 21:46 minute mark, freshman Paige Johnson successfully converted a free position shot to give Tampa its first lead of the contest at 3-2.  Stonehill's leading-scorer Rebecca Matheson evened the playing tally moments later. 

The Skyhawks would add four goals to take a 7-3 lead before sophomore Natalie Carraway would deliver UT's fourth score of the game.  Rom would record the final goal for Tampa with 3:06 left in regulation as Stonehill concluded with a 10-5 win.

Guilday (1-5) finished with five saves in the loss while Stonehill goalie Kaitlyn Hess (1-1) recorded the win behind a five-save effort.

Tampa will continue its series of home contests with a 7:30 p.m. game against No. 7 Limestone on Wednesday, March 9^th at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex.  Live stats as well as a live video webcast will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.

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