HICKORY, N.C.—The University of Montevallo women's lacrosse team battled at Lenoir-Rhyne on Sunday afternoon, but ultimately fell short 12-10. UM is now 1-1 on the season after the two-game road trip to North Carolina to open the year.
 
The first half was tightly contested, with neither squad giving an inch to the other. The Bears struck first before Anja Kuys got UM on the board with 25:40 left in the first half to tie the game 1-1.
 
After some back and forth, Hannah Fortin and Jodi Morawiec netted back-to-back goals for UM to take a 4-3 lead with 16:07 left in the first half. LR then scored the next three to take a 6-4 lead with 8:00 left in the opening stanza.
 
Montevallo scored three of the half's final four goals to tie the score at 7-7 heading into halftime. Brianna Shepler, Kuys and Eleanor Bruce each scored in that span to help the Falcons even the contest.
 
The Bears came out in the second half and scored two unanswered goals to go up 9-7 with 17:15 remaining in the game. UM struck back with a goal from Kuys to cut the LR lead back down to one with 14:48 left.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne responded by scoring three goals in a span of just three minutes and 22 seconds to hold a 12-8 lead with 8:05 remaining. Kuys and Crystal Williams netted goals for the Falcons at the 4:12 and 3:48 marks to cut the LR lead to 12-10, but the Bears defense held firm and did not allow UM to complete the comeback.
 
Kuys tied Lenoir-Rhyne's Alyssa Sack with a game-high four goals. Bruce was the only other Falcon with a multi-goal game, scoring two. Fortin, Morawiec, Shepler and Williams each had one goal. Janey Johnson had UM's only two assists of the afternoon.
 
 
UP NEXT: The Falcons will travel to Birmingham-Southern College to face the Panthers at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20.