Cate Rathnam tallied a career-high seven points and Saints made a late push in the fourth quarter, but the University of Rochester Yellowjackets edged the St. Lawrence University women's lacrosse team 14-12 in the conference opener on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, N.Y.

Rathnam scored six goals, also a career high, and added an assist to lead the Saints offense, while Jessica LaPlaca and Phoebe Spaeth each scored twice. Caroline Hamilton and Jolie Osborne also scored for the Scarlet and Brown. Osborne led the Saints with five draw control wins, while Spaeth picked up four ground balls and six Saints each caused two turnovers.

The Yellowjackets got off to a quick start, scoring four straight goals in the first 3:15 of the opening quarter. Rathnam scored her first two of the game back-to-back to cut the deficit to two goals but was answered with another pair of goals for Rochester. SLU scored two more and the first quarter ended with a 6-4 advantage for Rochester.  

Spaeth opened scoring in the second quarter and Rathnam scored her fourth just 38 seconds apart to knot the game 6-6. Rathnam then scored her fifth of the game, giving the Saints a three-goal run and their first lead of the game, making it 7-6 with 9:09 to play in the second quarter.

Rochester ended the half with a four-goal run to take a 10-7 lead at the break.

The Yellowjackets outscored the Saints 3-2 in the third quarter and continued to lead 13-9 heading into the fourth.

The Saints made a late push in the fourth quarter, scoring three goals in just over four minutes and outscoring Rochester 3-1 with goals from Rathnam, Hamilton and Spaeth. Unfortunately the Saints ran out of time, as Rochester held on for the 14-12 win.

"They are a good team and we didn't handle their pressure at times," said head coach Tom Ryan."Cate had a monster game on offense. Keira battled hard at the draw in the second half. We never gave up and had a chance at the end but made too many mistakes to overcome."

Sam Kinch led Rochester with four goals and two assists for six points. 

Zoe Froimovitz made six saves for SLU, while Madeline Merriman also finished with six for Rochester.

St. Lawrence led in shots (26-22), ground balls (25-22), and caused turnovers (13-12), while Rochester held a 15-14 edge in draws.

SLU fell to 2-3 on the season and 0-1 in Liberty League play, while Rochester improved to 3-2 and 1-0, respectively.

The Saints face a quick turnaround, as they stay in Rochester to play Nazareth on Sunday at 1 p.m.