RICHMOND, Va. – The LIU Brooklyn women's lacrosse team had their three game win streak snapped Sunday afternoon, as Virginia Commonwealth University beat the Blackbirds, 24-8. Bianca Santucci and Amanda Masullo both had hat tricks for LIU in the loss.
 
The Blackbirds were in the game early on, and only trailed 13-6 at the half. But the Rams would outscore LIU in the second half to widen the gulf.
 
VCU went up, 4-0, before LIU would get on the board. Masullo was the first to score for LIU, as she netted a goal ten minutes into the game off a pass from junior Dale Cosgrave. Three minutes later, Santucci added her first score of the game, off a pass from Sierra O'Connor. Just a minute later, Santucci scored again off a pass from Cosgrave, cutting the lead to just 4-3.
 
The Rams would score twice more, but Masullo and Cosgrave connected with 13 minutes left in the half for another goal, keeping LIU in the game, 6-4. Over the next four minutes, however, VCU scored four unanswered goals to make it 10-4. Carlie Robinson scored a goal for LIU with 5:22 left in the first half, off a pass from Masullo to make it 10-5, and Masullo would add an unassisted goal two minutes later to make it 1-16. But the Rams would score two more goals in the final minute, taking a 13-6 advantage into the break.
 
At the start of the second half, VCU would score two quick goals in the first minute to widen the lead to nine, and over the next five minutes, scored three more unanswered goals to go up, 18-6. Freshman Elise Person would score on a free position shot nine minutes into the half to get LIU back on the scoreboard, and Santucci would score her third goal of the game and 15^th of the season unassisted with just over four minutes left to play. But VCU would add six more goals in the process, and ended up taking the win, 24-8.
 
Up next, the Blackbirds return home to downtown Brooklyn to host La Salle University, Friday, March 23 at 4 p.m., before opening up Northeast Conference play in early April.