VILLANOVA, Pa. – Junior captain Caroline Allen tallied a career-high five goals, but the Cornell women's lacrosse comeback bid came up just short in its season-opener Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium. The Big Red fell to Villanova by a final score of 13-12.
 
Allen, who also registered three assists, finished the day with a total of eight points which is also a new career high.
 
The Wildcats (1-1) scored the contest's first goal just under four minutes in, with Grainger Rosati finding the back of the net.
 
The Big Red (0-1) was quick to respond with Allen netting her first goal of the afternoon just 10 seconds after Villanova opened the scoring. The goal was the first of four unanswered for Cornell.
 
With 21:11 remaining in the opening half, Villanova's Katie Comerford ended the Big Red's 4-0 run with her first goal of the contest. 46 seconds later, Comerford struck again to make it a one-goal game, but Olivia Jensen's goal with exactly 17 minutes remaining in the first half put the Big Red back up two.
 
After an over eight-minute stretch with no scoring, Villanova added three consecutive goals to go ahead 6-5.
 
Shannon Bertscha's first career goal evened the score at six with 1:25 remaining in the first half. Though, the Wildcats responded with two quick goals to take the two-point lead into halftime.
 
In the first 3:14 of the second, both teams each had a pair of goals. Villanova's Devin Hassinger scored
In the first minute of the second stanza. Freshman Genevieve DeWinter scored her first collegiate goal with 28:25 left and Allen followed it up with her third of the contest 28 seconds later, bringing the Big Red back within one. Though, Ashley Lynch extended the Wildcats' lead back to two with tally just over a minute later.
 
Cornell­ fought back to even the score. Allen matched her previous career high, with an unassisted player-up goal with 23:21 left. Then, 33 seconds later Sarah Phillips netted her second of the contest to tie the score for the first time since the 1:25 mark of the first half.
 
Villanova responded with three consecutive goals to go back ahead.
 
Allen and DeWinter added the game's final two goals, but the Big Red's effort to force overtime fell just short.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Hailey Andress made her first career start and played the first 33:14. Katie McGahan came on in relief and recorded three saves on the six shots she faced.
 
The Big Red has a three-game home stretch starting with Penn State on Feb. 23 followed by its Ivy-opener against Harvard on March 2 and concluded with a bout against Upstate rival Colgate on March 5.
 

NOTES TO KNOW

• The last time a member of the Big Red registered five goals in one contest was back on April 29, 2017 when Catherine Ellis had five against Harvard.
• Allen's previous career high was four goals, which she most recently recorded against Rutgers on March 31, 2018. Her previous high in points was six, which also came against the Scarlet Knights.
• The result ends Cornell's seven-game win-streak in season-openers.
• The Big Red generated 19 shots on goal in comparison to Villanova's 17.
• While Cornell slightly had 17-16 edge in the ground ball battle, Villanova claimed 17 of the 27 draws.