DAVENPORT, Fla. - The Piedmont University women's lacrosse team battled hard against the Golden Wolves of Alvernia but were unable to pick up the win late.

The slugfest opened with back to back goals from MERRYN BUMPASS and MACHAELA SMITH for the Lady Lions but were quickly answered by three straight from Alvernia. The two squads continued to trade goals for the remainder of the opening period of action with Piedmont narrowly holding a 7-5 lead going into the second. 

The Golden Wolves regained the momentum in the second period, outscoring the Lady Lions 5-2. The two goals on the Piedmont end came from AVA TRANKINA but the team still trailed 10-9 going into half time.

Out of the break, the offense came back to life as Piedmont was once again ready to trade blows with their opponents. Trankina and Bumpass got two quick ones to start the third before the Golden Wolves equalized the contest at 11-11. CLARA WELCH scored twice in the period and MAGGI SPRATLIN added one of her own but the team couldn't pull away as Alvernia fought to keep the contest level at 14-14 headed into the final period of action.

Despite being a man down heading into the fourth, Welch still found the back of the net to open the scoring in the period. The lead was short lived as Alvernia scored just minutes later to equalize once again with 12:54 to play. 

Just over a minute later, Bumpass was awarded a free position opportunity in which she assisted Smith in finding the back of the net, giving Piedmont a 16-15 lead. This marked the last time they would score in the contest.

The remaining 10 minutes were controlled by the Golden Wolves, who scored three times to take a 18-16 lead and limited the Lady Lions to just three shots during the run. The contest finished at 18-16.

Up next, Piedmont returns home to Demorest to take on Greensboro on Saturday, March 18.

TURNING POINT:
-- The Golden Wolves scored with 10:52 left to play in the fourth and never let the Lady Lions back in the game.

STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
-- CLARA WELCH and AVA TRANKINA both had four goals in the contest.
-- LINDLEY WARD, MACHAELA SMITH, MAGGI SPRATLIN and MERRYN BUMPASS all had two goals.
-- Ward led the Lady Lions with two caused turnovers.
-- Bumpass had an astounding five assists in the game.

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