MANCHESTER, N.H. – The No. 19 Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse fell in an early deficit and could not work its way out of it, falling to No. 12 Pace University in Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday, 19-14.

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 6-5 on the season and 4-4 in NE10 contests. The Setters improve to 9-3 with the win and 6-3 in conference contests. Saint Anselm is back in action on Wednesday, Apr. 20 when Franklin Pierce comes to the Hilltop for a 7 p.m. showdown under the lights.

Sophomores Alison Ferullo (North Andover, Mass.) and Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) netted four goals each to lead the Saint Anselm offense. Senior Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) led the Hawks with five points on one goal and four assists. Balboni's four-assist game is a career-high. Senior Annie Richards (Reading, Mass.) notched two assists in the game which brings her career total to 97, needing just three more to be the first Saint Anselm women's lacrosse student-athlete to reach 100 career assists.

Senior Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) made six saves in the contest and suffers her fifth loss in the cage for Saint Anselm.

The Hawks struck first as junior Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) collected the game's opening draw control and drove straight to the goal, scoring her 35th goal of the season and giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds into play.

Angelina Porcello and Ferullo would trade goals just 50 seconds apart, making the score 2-1 in favor of Saint Anselm. However, eight unanswered goals by the Setters from the 10:05 mark of the first quarter to 11:47 of the second quarter pushed the visitors out to a 9-2 edge.

Saint Anselm would respond with four consecutive goals in 3:06 as two goals from Ferullo and a goal each from Sullivan and senior Taylor Cobain (Smithfield, R.I.) brought the contest to 9-6. Porcello scored her second goal of the game at 6:14 of the second quarter before Sullivan and Ferullo went back-to-back to cut the deficit to two at 10-8. A goal by Kayla Conway with two seconds remaining in the first half extended the Setters lead to 11-8.

Sullivan opened the scoring just over a minute into the third quarter but Pace would score six of the next seven goals to open a 17-10 lead just 51 seconds in to the final regulation quarter. In the rest of the fourth quarter, Sullivan and Balboni got the Setters lead back down to five before Conway and Jaimie Bell reestablished the seven-goal lead. Junior Ellie Richards (Reading, Mass.) and Palmisano scored back-to-back goals for Saint Anselm with 3:13 left in regulation but there would not be enough time to complete the comeback, dropping the confernece contest by a 19-14 score.

The Setters netted eight free-position goals in the contest compared to three for the Hawks. Pace held a 35-31 advantage in shots and a 25-22 edge in shots on goal. The Setters collected 21 of 34 draw controls in the contest while the Hawks collected 15 ground balls, compared to 13 for Pace. Both squads were 14-for-17 in clears.