CINCINNATI, Ohio – Although a mid-match flamethrower from the Presbyterian College lacrosse team enabled them to achieve a late 3^rd-period advantage behind a 9-2 scoring spurt, their Sunday opponents from Xavier bit back with just as much gusto in a final result that favored the Musketeers, 15-11.

A meeting personified by see-saw momentum changes, PC battled to vanish a five-goal hole and turned that into a 10-8 advantage with just over 16 minutes on the clock. However, the home side shook off the cobwebs and enacted a 7-0 avalanche of their own to put Presby away.

When comparing 2023's box score to Sunday's in the only two instances of the Blue Hose facing Xavier, many eerie similarities creep into view. Most noticeably is the final score, which read 14-11 at Bailey Memorial Stadium last year and was only differentiated by an additional point in the Cincinnati rematch.

The next three times that head coach Eric Clakeley's group will take to the field, they'll do so in front of their Clinton audience. A home-heavy three-match layout will come next for the blue and garnet, each game only separated by a single day of rest in between.

 
NOTABLES
 
- Transfer attacker Brooke Chandler delivered unquestionably the best offensive day by a PC player in the young stages of 2024, hitting the back of the net three times with a pair of assists for good measure. She found the perfect time to get rolling, producing that entire trio of goals during her squad's aforementioned 9-2 run.

- Regular weapons Abby Edmisten and Willow Hammond grabbed six combined points at three apiece, part of seven different Blue Hose who garnered at least one successful strike.

- On the doorstep of yet another school-record achievement, Edmisten's 19-seconds-left goal tied her up with Catherine Ellis (2011-14) for the most scores of any Presbyterian athlete in the team's 16-year Division I history.

- That was goal number 135 for the fifth-year veteran, already the program's all-time leader in total points (168 and counting).

- Freshman Hannah Savage joined Chandler's company by careening her first goal in a Presbyterian uniform during the mid-match whirlwind, while fellow newbies Alyssa Perez and Kaylie Rittmueller added up for three more goals amongst themselves.

- In fact, Rittmueller (a freshman from Milton, Ga.) currently sits in second-place for the highest goal count on the club (five), mirroring Hammond and just one back of Edmisten.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
- Things were looking rather bleak in the early moments, with Xavier racing out to a 5-0 edge before the match had even reached the five-minute mark. Edmisten stopped the hemorrhaging at 8:36, which paved the way for a quarter-closing 3-0 run by the visitors.

- Following in Hammond's footsteps to give the team goal number two, Rittmueller snuck in back-to-back goals within a minute and 15 seconds of each other, enough to whittle that early lead down to 6-4 after the first frame.

- Both sides were dead-even in the 2^nd, with Chandler accounting for both of Presby's cash-ins during that window. The Musketeers took an 8-6 margin into the locker room, although coach Clakeley and co. came out sizzling for the 3^rd.

- Savage, Perez, Chandler, and Kylie Sullivan lined up four unanswered goals after intermission to suddenly bring Xavier their first trailing designation of the day. What was a 6-1 hole eventually became 10-8 Blue Hose after Sullivan's flick with 3:08 left in the period.

- Presbyterian was just 47 seconds away from shutting out their opponent over a full quarter for the first time since a road triumph against Radford last April, although the Musketeers regrouped after 17-plus minutes of silence to make it 10-9 headed to the 4^th.

- That was the start of the match's final twist, a 7-0 run against PC where it was their turn for the offense to get stingy.

- Despite the defeat, the Blue Hose were very efficient on their side of the field by converting 11 of their 15 on-goal attempts. Keeper Naomi Lauderbaugh totaled seven stoppages on Sunday, while both sides warred to 15 draw controls each.

 
UP NEXT
 
- UMass Lowell, Akron, and Rider will all visit Bailey Memorial Stadium when the calendar flips to March, as PC stays at home for meetings on the 9^th, 11^th, and 13^th.

- Thus far, the team's lone Clinton contest came on opening weekend, a 20-7 loss to the Hatters of Stetson back on February 10.

- Their next adversary (UMass Lowell) will engage in a first-time-ever affair just under two weeks from now, currently at 5-0 preceding other road encounters with Big South schools Winthrop and Gardner-Webb.