Phoebe Spaeth put in four goals as she led the St. Lawrence University women's lacrosse team as they fell to Geneseo 15-11 in a close match Friday afternoon at North Country Field in Canton, N.Y.

Caroline Hamilton was right behind Spaeth with a hat trick and Neve Ley found the back of the net twice. Kelsey Roth and Cate Rathnam each put in one goal, while Jessica LaPlaca chipped in two assists. Ley also won a team-best eight draw controls.

On defense, Brigette Gable led the team in caused turnovers with three, while Kelsey O'Brien, Spaeth, and Hamilton all had two caused turnovers. Hamilton led the Saints in ground balls as she picked up four on the day.

The Knights kicked things off by scoring the first goal just about a minute into the game as Alaina Renia found the back of the net. Geneseo then scored two more goals to give them a 3-0 lead. The Saints responded with two goals of their own, with Ley getting them on the board first followed up by Spaeth three minutes later to cut the lead to one, yet with a second left in the quarter the Knights put in another goal to give themselves a 4-2 lead.

Spaeth was the first to score in the second quarter off a free position shot to put St. Larwrence within one for the second time. Geneseo responded by scoring two goals back-to-back to regain their three-goal lead, until Roth scored on a free-position opportunity to put them within two again. Geneseo scored off a free position shot of their own for the last goal of the first half, giving them a 7-4 lead at the break.

The Scarlet and Brown started the second half strong, with Spaeth and Rathnam both scoring to make it 7-6. Geneseo went on a four-goal run without an answer from the Saints to put them up five, but SLU didn't let them pull far, putting in three goals in a row to make it a two-goal game yet again with 2:56 left to go in the third. Geneseo snuck in one more goal before the quarter ended to make it 12-9.

The Knights kicked off the final quarter, scoring two goals back-to-back to put them up five. The Saints kept fighting though, as they scored two more goals, but Geneseo found the back of the net one more time to seal the game, as they pulled out the 15-11 win over the Saints.



Alaina Reina led the Knights with five goals, while Maddie Brown put in four goals and Grace Geary caused four turnovers and picked up three ground balls.

Zoe Froimovitz made six saves on the day, as Emily DeJohn had eight saves for Geneseo.

Shots were nearly even, as Geneseo held a 26-25 edge, including 21-19 in shots on goal. The Knights picked up 22 ground balls to the Saints' 18, but SLU held a 17-12 advantage in draws.

The Saints now fall to 3-4 on the season, while the Knights improve to 4-5.

The Scarlet and Brown return to action tomorrow, as they host Bard in conference play, Saturday, March 29th at noon.