Emma Lawrence

A 4-1 second-half run as part of a larger 5-2 streak had the Fighting Scots knocking on the door, but a stout defensive close-out by Pomona-Pitzer Colleges over the final seven minutes, including a lead-preserving save in the final seconds, delivered The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team its first loss in a 9-8 defeat on Thursday afternoon at Claremont, Calif.

Junior Emma Lawrence tied her career high with four goals, followed by a pair from first-year Katie Harvey.

First-year goalkeeper Katie Shideler earned her first collegiate start, making 12 saves on 21 shots in the process.

After a tally from Lawrence just over two minutes into the game, the Sagehens (6-2) rallied with three straight free position goals, two from Lilly Thorney and another from Lily Hermann, to take a 3-1 lead midway through the first half.

Junior Laura Papp responded nearly eight minutes later with her first goal of the season on a free position attempt before Lawrence scored her second of the game to tie it at 3-3 with 3:44 left in the half.

Forty-two ticks later, Pomona-Pitzer scored the go-ahead goal on a free position shot from Sonia Olson before Sophia Silane made it a 5-3 Sagehens' lead on a man-up opportunity with 2:26 remaining.

The Sagehens doubled their lead out of the break to go up 7-3 at the 23:19 mark in the second half. From there, Wooster (1-1) scored four of the next five goals as part of a larger 5-2 Scots' run.

Lawrence got the ball rolling with another unassisted tally at the 19:30 mark before two goals from Harvey sandwiched a collegiate-first goal from first-year Ashley Boersma to cut the deficit to one (8-7) with over 11 minutes left to play.

Twenty seconds later, the Sagehens regained some cushion with a goal from Kate Immergluck before Lawrence got the Scots back to within one with an unassisted goal at the 7:20 mark.

Wooster managed two shots on cage in the final seven minutes, one from senior Michaela Lawrence and the other from first-year Sydney Schuster, the latter of whom found an open opportunity with four seconds remaining, but Sagehens goalkeeper Annie Price made a kick save to preserve the win.

Junior Megan Healy garnered four groundballs while Emma Lawrence totaled a team-high two caused turnovers.

Key to the Sagehens' victory was a 14-5 edge in draw controls, led by a game-high 10 from Pomona-Pitzer's Thorney.

Up next, Wooster travels to Whittier College (1-4) on Saturday, March 17 for a 2 p.m. EST start.