Boxscore

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red women's lacrosse team gave No. 17 Loyola all it could handle, but couldn't steal the win, as the Greyhounds pulled off the 11-9 victory this evening at Schoellkopf Field. With the loss, Cornell falls to 2-3 on the season, while Loyola improves to 4-3 overall.

The Big Red received a pair of goals from Jessi Steinberg, Shannon McHugh and Katie Kirk, while Libby Johnson led Cornell with three points on one goal and two assists. Olivia Knotts and Lauren Halpern rounded out the scoring with one goal apiece.

Loyola was led by Meg Decker and Abby Rehfuss, who scored three goals apiece, while Emily Gibson and Grace Gavin both chipped in two goals. Mary Heneberry finished with three points on one goal and two assists.

In between the pipes, Kyla Dambach got the start and made six saves and allowed seven goals in 38:16 of action, while Kristen Reese was credited with the loss after allowing four goals in 21:44. The Greyhounds' Kerry Stoothoff earned the win with seven saves.

Cornell held the slight edge in shots, 26-25, ground balls, 13-12, and draw controls, 13-9, but struggled clearing the ball (11-for-17). The Big Red also converted just 3-of-13 free positions, while the Greyhounds scored on 2-of-5 tries. Both teams turned the ball over 16 times, but Cornell caused 10 of Loyola's turnovers, thanks mostly to Tissy O'Connor, who forced three.

The Big Red struck first, just over three minutes into the contest, when McHugh scored a free position shot to put the home team up, 1-0.

Loyola won the ensuing draw, but a Dambach save returned possession to Cornell and Johnson found a wide-open Kirk cutting to the goal. Kirk beat Stoothoff up high from point-blank range to make it a 2-0 game at the 24:51 mark. .

Just over six minutes later, the Greyhounds took their first lead of the game, 3-2, with goals by Decker, Gibson and Rehfuss.

The Loyola run continued with Rehfuss' second goal in two minutes, as well as Gibson's second goal of the day to go up, 5-2, with 14:29 to play in the first half.

A free position goal by Kirk ended the 5-0 Loyola scoring run and goal by Johnson brought the Big Red back within one goal, 5-4, at the 8:21 mark.

The teams traded goals on their next two possessions with Rehfuss and Halpern both using tremendous individual efforts to score for Loyola and Cornell, respectively.

A free position shot by Steinberg was saved by Stoothoff with just under two minutes to play in the half and Gavin made the Big Red pay on the other end with an unassisted goal to send Loyola in the intermission with a 7-5 lead.

A 3-1 scoring run by Cornell, which included a pair of goals Steinberg, knotted the game at 8-8 with 21:35 remaining in the game. Also scoring for the Big Red during the run was Knotts.

Just 34 seconds later, Loyola regained the lead with the first of two straight goals by Decker, before Gavin pushed the Greyhounds advantage to 11-8 with a free position goal with just over 13 minutes to play.

McHugh ended the Loyola run with a free position goal at the 10:48 mark, but that was as close as it would get as the Greyhounds escaped Schoellkopf Field with the 11-9 victory.

The Big Red is back in action next weekend when it travels to Harvard on Saturday, March 20 at noon.