DALLAS, Pa. - The Albright women's lacrosse team was unable to overcome a strong second half from the Misericordia Cougars as they were defeated 18-6 Saturday afternoon in crossover play.
 
 The loss brings the Lions overall record to 1-1 while the Cougars advance to 2-0 overall in the opening two weeks of the 2021 season.
 
The Lions came out of the gate swinging in the first half with junior Marisa Cocca scoring the first goal of the game at the 27:16-mark off an assist from sophomore Chloe Fornoff. The goal was the first collegiate goal for Cocca. Just 34 seconds later, the Cougars responded with a goal of their own to tie the game at 1-1. Junior Lauren China registered the first of her three goals of the game at the 25:10-mark to put the Lions back in front at 2-1. The Cougars took their first lead of the game at the 20:35-mark of the first half after scoring back-to-back goals. Junior Ashleigh Tortorice tied the game back up with a free position shot at the 18:44-mark following a Cougars yellow card. China put the Lions back in the lead at 4-3 with 17:03 left in the first half. However, the Lions lost the lead quick as the Cougars went on to score the next five of six goals of the half. Misericordia led 8-5 going into the second half.
 
Misericordia started the second half strong as they scored the first four goals of the half, bringing the Lions' deficit to 12-5 at the 25:28-mark. With a feed from Fornoff, China scored the first and only goal of the half for the Lions at the 22:31-mark of the second half. Albright's lone goal would not be enough as the Cougars continued to dominate, scoring another 6 consecutive goals to defeat the Lions 18-6.
 
The Cougars held a 35-22 shot advantage over the Lions despite being almost split in shots at 18-17 during halftime. The battle for ground balls was almost split as well with Misericordia having a slight 27-26 advantage. Misericordia held a sizable advantage in draw controls at 17-9, and forced 28 turnovers. Senior goalkeeper Terae Mason suffered the loss despite making 12 saves in the full 60 minutes of action. Maggie McGovern earned the win for the Cougars with eight saves while playing the full 60 minutes as well in net. China registered three goals to lead the Lions while Tortorice, Cocca, and Taylor all contributed one goal. Fornoff tallied two assists and two draw control wins. Lauren Weitzel led the Cougars with a game-high 10 points behind eight goals and two assists along with 10 draw control wins.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, March 17th as they will host Messiah to open MAC Commonwealth play at 4 p.m.