Saint Joseph's Women's Lacrosse Tops Saint Mary's, 8-7

Saint Joseph's freshman Val Paolucci scored her first career goal and the game-winning goal on a free-position attempt with 5:14 remaining in the game to lead the Hawks to an 8-7 win over Saint Mary's on Saturday afternoon at Finnesey Field.

In the first half, the two teams traded goals in the first 7:32, with the Gaels striking first.  Saint Joseph's Grace Dinn answered with an unassisted goal and after another SMC goal Jen Peters scored off a pass from Meghan McDevitt to tie it at 2-2. 

The Gaels scored back-to-back goals to take a 4-2 lead, but the Hawks responded with three goals. Nora McGuire netted the first, while Dinn notched a free-position goal and Peters had the third, with the assist coming from McDevitt once again. The two teams battled for a scoreless 9:29, to give the Hawks a 5-4 lead at the break.

In the second half Saint Mary's opened scoring with two goals, before Paolucci scored her first goal to knot the game, 6-6.  Gaels' Jillian Chong scored her third goal of the game to give SMC their last lead of the game at the 16:02 mark.  McDevitt scored the game-tying goal with 7:10 to go before Paolucci notched the game-winning free-position goal.

Paolucci, Peters, and Dinn finished with two goals apiece, while McDevitt tallied three points with a goal and two assists.  Goalkeeper Kaitlin LaBarbera made 10 saves between the pipes.

The Hawks return to action on Friday when they host La Salle in their conference opener.  Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. on Finnesey Field.