SMITHFIELD, R.I. - The LIU Brooklyn women's lacrosse team suffered its first Northeast Conference loss of the season to Bryant on Sunday afternoon, 16-12.
Freshman Sierra O'Connor and sophomore Jenn Peters each netted a hat trick, while O'Connor led LIU with five points on the day. Junior goalkeeper Alexis Maldonado made 12 saves. The Blackbirds were very accurate on the day, making 12 goals on 16 shots.
The Blackbirds struggled to find their rhythm in the first 14 minutes, only taking one shot. The Bulldogs scored six straight before sophomore Mary McQueen put LIU Brooklyn on the board with 16:07 to play. Peters added her 47th goal of the year and LIU's second of the game after picking up a ground ball from a Bryant turnover at the 12:48 mark.
The Bulldogs increased their lead to five at the 10 minute mark, but two minutes later, freshman Carlie Robinson found McQueen, who scored her second goal of the game. A successful LIU clear with seven minutes to go cut the Bulldogs' lead to only three, as O'Connor found the back of the net.
A foul in the eight-meter gave way to a successful free position shot from Peters to give Bryant its slimmest lead at two goals since the beginning of the game. The Bulldogs took a flurry of shots near the end of the half, but strong defense and a save from Maldonado kept the score at 7-5 headed into the break.
The Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run to start the second half and the first 10 minutes, pushing their lead to 13-5. Sophomore Tori Shinkowitz struck first for the Blackbirds in the second half, before Bryant responded 15 seconds later.
O'Connor scored LIU's seventh goal of the game with just under 17 to go. She came up big for the Blackbirds again, first assisting Carly Weiss with 9:09 to go, before scoring again with 7:47 to play, to cut the gap to 15-10. Peters added her second free-position goal of the game with 4:13 to go as the Blackbirds, but Bryant went back up by five at the 2:49 mark. Shinkowitz scored on a feed from O'Connor with time winding down, but Bryant would win the draw control hold hold the possession the rest of the game to seal the win.
The Blackbirds won nine draw controls and picked up 16 ground balls, while causing five turnovers on the day.
LIU Brooklyn is back in action this Friday, April 17 at Wagner at 4:00 p.m.