EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette field hockey team put up a strong effort against its fourth nationally-ranked opponent of the 2018 schedule thus far on Sunday afternoon at Rappolt Field, falling by a 3-1 score to No. 19 Liberty.

Junior goalie Sarah Park was the story on the afternoon, putting together her best performance of the season to keep the Leopards in it throughout the contest. The Collegeville, Pa. native faced 23 shots on the day and made 12 saves, while seniors Rachel Bird and Adriana Pero each notched a defensive save to help out their net-minder.

"She was decisive, convincing, stepped out at times and made big saves," head coach Jennifer Stone said of her keeper. "I thought she was a little more aggressive and was able to stop their attack a bit higher on the field. Sarah did what she needed to do for us to get a result today. She played fantastic."

The first goal of the contest took just over a minute to materialize as Liberty's Agueda Moroni, coming into the game second in the nation in scoring at 1.67 goals per contest, tallied the first of her three scores at the 1:35 mark off a corner. The second tally came in the 23^rd minute, but the Lafayette defense held strong, moving the game into the break at a manageable 2-0 deficit.

"She's someone the whole country knows about and certainly was a big part of our focus points today," Stone said of Moroni. "When you have an outstanding attacking player, it can make the difference in a game. I have all the respect in the world for their program and that particular player. We knew about her and we were able to manage her in her attack in a lot of ways, but good players make plays and she was the difference-maker."

Moroni finished off the hat trick midway through the second half to put the game out of reach, deking Park in transition and finishing low to the right for a 3-0 advantage. Lafayette finally got on the board in the waning moments as junior co-captain Lisa van der Geest fired a missile into the right side of the cage to finish the game with a final of 3-1.

The loss drops the Maroon and White to 2-7 on the year overall, but still 1-0 as they return to Patriot League action. Liberty improves to 6-2, going 2-0 on its Pennsylvania trip after defeating Villanova by a 4-0 score on Friday.

Sunday's game was the annual Pancreatic Cancer Awareness game for Lafayette as both teams donned purple t-shirts during warm-ups to support the Wage Hope My Way initiative, organized by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. For more information or to make a donation, please click here.

Lafayette remains in Easton through the week as Boston U. comes to town for the next contest on Saturday with the opening whistle set for 12 p.m.