Buffalo, NY – The D'Youville women's lacrosse team nearly had a comeback victory on Wednesday evening against the Allegheny Gators, losing by the final score of 12-11.

Tiffany Cristofanelli (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) began the scoring for the Spartans after nearly three minutes of scoreless action. The Gators responded with three unanswered goals and six of the next seven goals as they led 6-2 nearly half way through the first half. Isabella Lucania (Webster, NY/Webster-Schroeder) then scored to make the score 6-3 in favor of Allegheny as the Gators would score the final three goals of the half to lead 9-3 going into halftime.

To begin the second half, the two teams traded goals with Margaret Merigold (Tonawanda, NY/Mt. St. Mary Academy) scoring both for D'Youville as they trailed 11-5 with 17:24 to go in the game. From that point on, the Spartans would take over the game on both ends of the field.

Allegheny would score one more to make it 12-5 with 12:58 remaining the game – the final goal from the Gators. Clarice Byrne (Boston, NY/Hamburg) tallied her first goal of the game, followed by goals from Paige Robinson (Kenmore, NY/Mt. St. Mary Academy) and Lucania to trim the deficit to four with just over 10 minutes to go in the game.

The two teams would go scoreless for nearly eight minutes until Marissa Markott (Sanborn, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) scored with 2:52 to go in the game to make it 12-9. She then added another goal just over a minute later as the women pulled to within two. Byrne then scored her second goal of the game with less than a minute to go as the Spartans furious comeback was within a goal.

Unfortunately for D'Youville, they ran out of time as the final horn sounded and they fell to the Gators by the final score of 12-11.

Markott led the team with three goals in the game, followed by Lucania, Merigold, and Byrne with two each. Lucania led the team with two assists while Cristofanelli and Robinson scored a goal each.

Julia Prychodko (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) led the team with seven ground balls with Markott, Lucania, and Alison Gareis (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo Seminary) tallying five each. Merigold led the team with seven draw controls and four different players caused two turnovers. In goal, Megan Dulniak (Cheektowaga, NY/Cheektowaga) made 14 saves.

The next game for the women will come this Saturday as they travel to take on Cazenovia at 2:00pm. They will then stay on the road for a game on Sunday as they play Wells at 1:00pm.