Riann Daziel scored the first three goals of the game to give University of Mount Olive an early lead, but Saint Leo University rallied to defeat the Trojans 10-6 in non-conference women's lacrosse Saturday at Saint Leo, Fla. With Saturday's result, the Trojans split their two contests during their spring break trip to Florida.
Daziel put Mount Olive (4-2) on the scoreboard just 29 seconds into the contest and scored again three minutes later. Her goal with 19:56 left in the first half gave the Trojans a 3-0 lead.
Saint Leo (4-1) came back with a pair of goals 47 seconds apart to pull within 3-2 with 14:48 remaining. The Lions tied the game on Christina Minneci's goal with 5:08 left before halftime.
The Trojans regained the lead on Candace Corkin's goal and Michelle Scannell's goal with 1:18 left gave Mount Olive a 5-3 lead. The Trojans' lead was cut to a single goal after Kelsey Burns scored to pull Saint Leo within 5-4 at halftime. Burns' goal triggered a 6-0 run that put the Lions ahead to stay.
Saint Leo tied the game just over three minutes into the second half on a goal by Joanna Chadwick, who scored the Lions' first goal. Allie Sheftall's goal with exactly 22 minutes left to play gave Saint Leo its first lead of the game at 6-5.
The Lions scored three more times until Alysha Kulka scored Mount Olive's lone goal of the second half with 1:45 left to play.
Daziel's three goals tied for game-high honors. Hannah Knight recorded nine saves for the Trojans.
The Trojans defeated Tampa 14-8 two nights earlier and came within 46 seconds of holding their second straight opponent to less than 10 goals.
Mount Olive is idle until next Saturday when the Trojans play host to Shorter in non-conference action at Amon Field. Game time is 7 p.m.