MANCHESTER, N.H. – In a battle of nationally-ranked programs, the Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team fell to Le Moyne College by a 13-11 score from Grappone Stadium on Wednesday.

The Hawks, who are ranked 19th in the most recent ILWomen/IWLCA Division II Women's Lacrosse National poll, suffer just their second loss of the season and drop to 9-2 overall and 5-2 in conference games. The Dolphins, who are No. 7 in the same poll, improve to 10-2 on the season and 6-1 in NE10 play.

Prior to the start of the game, Saint Anselm joined the NE10 and those schools in action today with a league-wide Morgan's Message day, aiming to end the stigma surrounding mental health.

Senior Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) netted four goals and added one assist to match a game-high with five points. Junior Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) posted three goals and an assist for four points with classmate Alison Ferullo (North Andover, Mass.) collecting a pair of tallies.

Palmisano grabbed a team-high nine draw controls in the contest. In doing so, the senior moved into second all-time in that category with 177 for her career.

Sara Goodwin opened the scoring in the contest with 12:28 remaining in the first quarter before senior Taylor Cobain (East Greenwich, R.I.) knotted the score just 55 seconds later. After a goal from Jessica Meneilly gave the Dolphins a 2-1 lead at 10:05, the Hawks would net back-to-back goals from Ferullo and Palmisano to lead 3-2. However, a late goal from Gemma Addonizio sent the teams to the second quarter tied at three.

Meneilly and Katelyn Karleski combined to score three goals and extend the Dolphins scoring run to four in the opening minutes of the second frame. Junior Isabella Stuzynski (Bedford, Mass.) and Ferullo netted one goal apiece in the final minutes of the second quarter but those tallies were answered by Meneilly as the Dolphins would lead 8-5 at the half.

Both sides netted two goals in the third quarter which pushed the score to 10-7. After a goal from Goodwin at 11:45 of the fourth quarter, Palmisano and Sullivan struck once each just 1:19 apart to cut the deficit to two.

Karleski found the back of the cage to reestablish the two-goal edge for Le Moyne at 8:46 before Sullivan and Palmisano combined for a pair of goals again in 27 seconds which made the score 12-11.

Goodwin would add a goal with 3:54 remaining, marking the final goal of the contest as Le Moyne managed to run out the remainder of the clock and grab the contest by a 13-11 score.

Sophomore Elizabeth Driscoll (Marblehead, Mass.) made seven saves in the losing effort from the cage for the Hawks.

The teams were tied in shot attempts at 25 apiece and in shots on goal at 20. Le Moyne was 19-for-21 in clear attempts compared to 16-for-19 for Saint Anselm. The Hawks collected 16 ground balls while the Dolphins grabbed 13. Saint Anselm held a 17-11 advantage in draw controls in the contest.

Saint Anselm will meet another top-10 program nationally when the team heads to No. 2 Pace University on Saturday, Apr. 15 for a 1 p.m. start from Pleasantville, N.Y.