READING, Pa. – The Albright women's lacrosse team overcame a seven-goal deficit but was unable to outlast #22 Haverford in the final minutes as they fell 14-12 at Shirk Stadium on Wednesday.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 1-6 overall. Meanwhile, the nationally ranked Fords improve to 5-2.
 
Senior Ashleigh Tortorice led the way for Albright with a season-high five points behind three goals and two assists. Junior Chloe Fornoff followed with two goals and two assists for four points and added four draw controls and two ground balls. Sophomore Kayte Moist tallied two goals and one assist for three points while classmate Kyra Lycett grabbed a game-high eight draw controls.
 
The Lions came out of the gates fired up as Fornoff grabbed the opening draw and found senior Abbie Moist who tucked the ball into the back of the net to give Albright a 1-0 lead just 45 second into the game. Haverford got on the board and tied the game at one at the 11:56-mark. The Lions kept their momentum and notched back-to-back scores from Fornoff and Tortorice to pull ahead 3-1 at the 8:39-mark. The Fords responded with three-straight goals to grasp their first lead of the game at 4-3 with just over a minute left in the first. Junior Abigail Hai tied the game at four with an unassisted goal with just 16 second left in the opening frame.
 
The Fords controlled most of the second stanza, tallying three unanswered goals to grasp a 7-4 lead. The Lions were able to post five second quarter shots on goal, but Haverford goalkeeper Sarah Cahn made the necessary stops to silence Albright for the remainder of the half and hold onto the 7-4 advantage.
 
Haverford kept their foot on the gas coming out of the break with back-to-back goals less than a minute apart, extending their lead to 9-4. The Fords capped off their run with two more goals to take their largest lead at seven. Kayte Moist finally snapped the Fords run at the 5:36-mark off a feed from Tortorice. The Lions closed out the third quarter with a woman-up free-position goal from sophomore Katelyn Patrick to cut their deficit to 11-6 entering the final stanza.
 
The Lions found the spark they needed as Kayte Moist tallied another goal from a Tortorice assist to get Albright within four. Hai notched her second unassisted goal of the game at the 12:30-mark to keep the Lions rolling. Senior Lauren China found the back of the net at the 11:09-mark off an assist from Kayte Moist to cut the Lions deficit to 11-9. Tortorice capped the Lions run with two more scores and tied the game for the first time since the first quarter at 11 with 8:17 remaining. The Fords finally snapped the Lions seven-goal run at the 6:35-mark with a woman-up goal to pull ahead 12-11. Fornoff fired off a shot past the goalkeeper to tie the game back up at 12 with 5:04 left to play. Haverford quickly took back the lead 30 seconds later to grasp a 13-12 advantage. The Fords won the draw and earned three-straight free-position shots but first-year goalkeeper Caelainn Morrison kept the Lions alive with a big save on the third attempt. However, the Lions were unable to get a final shot off as Haverford solidified the 14-12 victory with a free-position goal in the final two seconds of action.
 
The Fords held a slight 32-28 shot advantage and connected 25 on goal compared to the Lions 19. Albright won the battle for draw controls 16-12 and ground balls were almost split at 15-14 in favor of Haverford. Morrison receives the loss in net for the Lions despite a season-high 11 saves in the full amount of action. Cahn earns the win for the Fords with seven saves in 45 minutes of play.
 
Albright will return to action on Saturday as they travel to St. Joseph's (Long Island) for non-conference action at 3:30 p.m.