STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (Apr. 12)- The Saint Vincent women's lacrosse team fell to Franciscan by a score of 19-12 on Saturday afternoon.

In the high scoring affair, the Bearcats (3-11, 1-7 PAC) trailed 8-2 after one quarter and 10-5 at the half. Franciscan (6-7, 2-5 PAC) outscored Saint Vincent 9-7 in the second half to hand SVC the road Presidents Athletic Conference loss.

Cara Dupilka led Saint Vincent with four goals in the loss. Valeria Hurtado added three goals, while Katie Smith (one goal, one assist) and Melanie Seefeldt (two goals) both totaled two points each. Smith also scooped up a team-high four ground balls and caused four turnovers. Louisa Zamborsky and Carolina Walters both added one goal each for the Bearcats in the loss as well.

Bethany Smith added three ground ball pickups, one caused turnover, and two draw controls. Ava Baeslach scooped up three ground balls for the Bearcats as well. Cassidy Rega took the loss in net, making 13 saves for the Bearcats.

It was a back-and-forth start early on in the first quarter as the score was 2-2 about nine minutes in. Seefeldt scored on an assist from Smith, followed by a Zamborsky goal to tie the game at 2-2. Franciscan scored the next six goals to end the first quarter with an 8-2 advantage.

The Barons also scored the first two goals of the second quarter to increase their lead to 10-2. SVC cut into the lead, scoring the next three goals, coming from Smith, Hurtado, and Dupilka, cutting the lead to 10-5. Franciscan answered with three straight goals of their own to push their lead back up to eight at 13-5. 

The three goal spurts continued as Saint Vincent scored the next three goals in a row, coming from Seefeldt, Walters, and Dupilka to once again cut the lead to five at 13-8 with 6:45 remaining in the third quarter. Franciscan added another goals and SVC scored two more before the quarters end as the Bearcats trailed 14-10 going into the final quarter. Hurtado scored the final two goals in the third quarter for Saint Vincent.

Franciscan went on to outscore Saint Vincent 5-2 in the fourth quarter to hand the Bearcats the conference defeat. Dupilka scored both of SVC's fourth quarter goals.

SVC was out shot in the game by a 42-26 margin. Turnovers were 25-24 in favor of Franciscan as were ground balls at a 22-16 clip. The Barons led draw controls by a 22-11 margin. Saint Vincent was 6-9 on free position shots, while Franciscan was 5-13.

The Bearcats will return to action on Tuesday, April 15 with their regular season home finale against Washington and Jefferson. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night under the lights at UPMC Field.