Colonials Edge Lady Flames, 13-10, on Monday

Despite a career-high four goals from Brianna McCaffrey, the Liberty women's lacrosse squad fell to Robert Morris, 13-10, Monday at Joe Walton Stadium.

Liberty moves to 1-7 overall with the setback, while Robert Morris improves to 4-4 with the win.

McCaffrey notched three goals before halftime and added another marker in the second half. The sophomore midfielder also added two assists for a career-best six points, as well as, a game-high and career-high six ground balls. On the year, McCaffrey has recorded 18 points in eight games, after tallying 16 in 18 contests as a freshman.

McCaffrey scored a career-high four goals on Monday at Robert Morris.

The Colonials never trailed in the contest after scoring the first two goals of the game. Dana Davis and Annie Sachs scored three goals each for the hosts.

Davis' first marker came just 58 seconds after the opening whistle off a feed from Sachs, giving the home side a 1-0 edge. The two teams played solid defense during the next seven-plus minutes before Alexis Rusnak scored to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead with 20:46 remaining in the opening frame.

The Lady Flames' McCaffrey put Liberty on the board 1:27 later, scoring on a free-position shot. With 18:58 left in the first half, Courtney Brown found a cutting Abby Britton, who sent a quick shot past Colonials goalkeeper Katelyn Miller to tie the score at 2-2.

Robert Morris responded with a string of three consecutive goals, two from Sachs and one from Maggie Stella, to claim a 5-2 lead with 13:09 left on the first half clock.

Liberty freshman Hannah Quast scored her ninth goal of the season to trim the Colonials' lead back down to two but Stella bumped the lead up to 6-3 with an unassisted tally with 11:11 to go in the opening stanza.

The Lady Flames, outscored Robert Morris, 3-2, over the closing 11:11 of the first half to go into intermission down two, 8-6. During that stretch, McCaffrey scored her second and third goals of the game and Fletcher added a goal.

McCaffrey's goal to reach a hat trick was perhaps the highlight of the contest. McCaffrey scooped up a ground ball in her team's half of the field and raced down the field, needing to beat just one defender. McCaffrey was cross checked by Stella, who was issued a yellow card. On the ensuing free-position attempt, McCaffrey faked out the only defender in the play and ripped a shot into the right side of the net.

Abby Britton brought Liberty to within one, 8-7, with a goal 33 seconds into the second half on an assist from freshman Carly White. Sachs' 20th goal of the year at the 27:56 mark helped spur a 3-0 run that put the Colonials ahead, 11-7, with 19:42 left in the game.

Fletcher's second goal of the day, her sixth of 2017, brought the score to 11-8. Neither team scored for the next 6:51, until McCaffrey's fourth and final goal of the day brought the visitors back to within two, 11-9, with 10:15 to go.

Robert Morris two of the last three goals (Davis and Katie Breeze), while sophomore attacker Kayla Foster put in Liberty's final goal with 5:39 remaining.

Miller was the winner in goal, making 11 saves while allowing 10 goals in 60 minutes. Aubrie Tarris (1-5) drew the start for Liberty and yielded eight goals.

The Colonials outshot the Lady Flames, 32-25 for the game but Liberty had 21 shots on goal compared to 20 for Robert Morris. The Lady Flames also won more ground balls (26-23) and draw controls (14-11), while causing more turnovers (12-11).

Senior defender Victoria Tickle collected five ground balls and two caused turnovers for Liberty. Davis led the Colonials in both ground balls (game-high eight) and caused turnovers (game-best three).

The Lady Flames' next contest will be on March 22 at William & Mary. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field.