Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Lafayette women's lacrosse team fought to its second straight critical victory in Patriot League action on Wednesday night in Lewisburg, Pa. over Bucknell. Hat tricks from Hannah Davey, Emma Novick and Kirsten Wilhelmsen pushed the Leopards over the edge in a tight 14-13 affair.

"It was a huge win and to get back-to-back victories against teams we lost to last year is huge for our confidence," head coach Alison Fisher said. "All four of our defenders were statistically positive and Kirsten handled the way they played her like a senior should. It was an exceptional team win from start to finish."

The final score was closer than the action as the Leopards pulled away in the second half and saw out the final eight minutes for the result. The win moves Lafayette to 8-3 overall on the season, its best start since 2002, and 3-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 2003.

Wilhelmsen added three helpers to her three goals to lead the team with six points offensively, while Mairead Janzer and Jane Kirby also put in multi-point efforts with two goals and a goal and an assist, respectively. All three Lafayette goalies saw action between the pipes with Anna Raymond picking up the win and improving her record to 3-1.

Shots finished at 35-27 in favor of the Maroon and White, while the Leopards won the ground ball battle once again, 20-17. Kristin Schaen helped Lafayette to a 16-13 edge in draw controls and free-position opportunities were converted at a much better rate than in recent games, scoring on 5-of-7 chances.

The game started evenly from both sides as the Leopards scored the first two, but Bucknell answered with a pair to tie it up at 2-2 with 17:53 to play in the half. Novick and Davey pushed the edge back out to two, but the Bison's Christina Manis finished at 9:48 to trim it to one, 4-3.

The latter stages of the opening half looked like Lafayette would have a comfortable lead into the break as Janzer, Wilhelmsen and Novick made it three straight for the Maroon and White to move the advantage to four at 7-3. However, Bucknell was able to beat Raymond for a pair in the final 1:42 to send the game into the break down two, 7-5.

The second half began as more of the same with both teams trading goals in the first five minutes. Three out of the next four came from Lafayette sticks as the visitors opened up an 11-7 advantage with 19:16 left, and a Bucknell goal was answered by two more Leopard tallies to make it 13-8 with 16:16 to play.

With 13:14 remaining in the game, seeing out the clock was the most important thing for the Maroon and White. That strategy allowed Bucknell back into the game, scoring two goals with less than 30 seconds remaining to make it interesting to the final buzzer. However, Wilhelmsen was able to win the final draw and avoid a miracle play form the home side as Lafayette walked out with its second straight 14-13 victory.

The Leopards return to Fisher Stadium on Saturday, hosting American at 1 p.m. The game is Lafayette's annual Athlete Ally game, an organization whose mission is to teach and inform athletes about the LGBT community as a way to end homophobia and transphobia in athletics.