ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's women's lacrosse team lost in a non-conference matchup 17-12 against Rhodes on Friday afternoon.

The Purple Raiders (5-5) were led by sophomore Mae Pawlikowski (Orchard Park, N.Y.) who had five points, scoring four goals and recording an assist and senior Haylee Handrahan (Hilliard / Hilliard Darby) who had four points, recording three assists and scoring a goal. Senior Ella Nejad (Rocky River) and sophomore Anna Weinel (Dayton / Chaminade Julienne) both scored a pair of goals, while freshman Aliza Very (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Baldwin) added a goal and a pair of assists.

The Lynx (10-3) were led by Payton Stevens who scored six goals and had two assists and Sadie McRae who recorded eight assists.
Rhodes would strike first when Stevens scored her first goal of the game to give them a 1-0 lead with 12:45 in the first quarter. Mount Union would answer quickly however, when junior Emma Labbe (Uniontown / Lake) scored off an assist from Nejad to tie the game at a goal apiece with 11:35 to play in the first quarter. The Lynx would then reclaim the lead with 9:35 in the first, before Pawlikowski would score her first goal of the game off an assist from Handrahan to tie the game at two with just under seven and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter. Rhodes would close the first quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 6-2 lead into the second quarter.

The Lynx would extend their lead to open the second quarter by scoring the first five goals of the quarter and push their lead out to 11-2 with 8:45 left to play in the first half. Weinel would then cut into that lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the half when she scored off an assist from Handrahan to trim the lead to eight goals. Rhodes would go on to score the final two goals of the half and take a 13-3 lead into the halftime break.

The Lynx would open the second half with a goal to stretch their lead to 11 with 13:46 remaining in the third quarter, before the Raiders would score back-to-back goals, the first coming from freshman Alexa Udovicic (Painesville / Lake Catholic) then Pawlikowski would score off an assist from sophomore Reese Fuenfstueck (Fairport, N.Y) to cut the lead to nine goal. Rhodes would get one more goal in the third before Mount Union would on to score the next five goals, spanning from 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter to 9:42 left to play in the game. The first of those goals came from Weinel off an assist from Udovicic, then Handrahan scored, followed by Very scoring from a Pawlikowski assist before Nejad scored the final two goals of the run, off assists from Handrahan and Labbe to cut the lead to 15-10.

Rhodes would then push their lead back up to seven after a pair of goals from Caroline Kardian, before Pawlikowski and Very would connect for a pair of goals with 3:46 and 47 seconds remaining in the game but that's as close as the Raiders would get as the Lynx would go on to win 17-12.

The Raiders hit the road next when they travel to New Concord for an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup with Muskingum on Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m.