WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 23) – The Waynesburg University women's lacrosse team hosted Thomas More on Saturday for a non-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) match at John F. Wiley Stadium. The Yellow Jackets jumped to an early lead before engaging in a back-and-forth contest with the Saints. Unfortunately, an abundance of fouls around their own net led to the Jackets dropping a heart-breaking 9-7 contest to Thomas More.
 
Waynesburg (0-6) built a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals from sophomore Breanna Martini (Pickerington, Ohio / Pickerington North) in the first 2:26. Just when it looked like the Jackets may run away with their first win of the season, Thomas More (1-4) tied the score with tallies in the seventh and 17^th minutes.
 
Senior Julie Sipes (Green Castle, Pa. / Home Schooled) gave the home team the lead back with 10:23 remaining in the first half. After Thomas More made the score 3-3, Martini completed an early hat trick with 2:52 showing on the scoreboard. Just when it looked like the Jackets were going to head to the locker room with the lead intact, the Saints split the pipes with five seconds left to play in the opening period to tie the score at 4-4.
 
Waynesburg regained the edge (5-4) 5:34 into the second half on an unassisted goal by junior Jackie Adler (Allison Park, Pa. / Hampton). Unfortunately, that was the last lead of the day for the home squad, as the Saints tallied back-to-back goals for the second time on the afternoon to jump ahead 6-5.
 
Another goal by Martini tied the score back at up at 6-6 with 9:30 showing on the game clock. However, Thomas More found the back of the net twice in less than two minutes to provide the game-winning tallies. Martini found the back of the net for a game-high fifth time to keep things interesting, but the Saints scored the game's final goal with 3:32 left in the back-and-forth affair.
 
Adler added a team-high six ground balls to her goal and also secured a squad-best three draw controls. Martini also picked up three draw controls.
 
Freshman Riley Yoder (Lancaster, Ohio / Fisher Catholic) turned in her strongest performance of season in goal by stopping nine-of-18 shots on goal.
 
As previously mentioned, fouls around the net led to free position shots that resulted in costly goals given up by the Jackets. The Saints scored three times in this manner.
 
On the positive side, Saturday marked the fewest goals given up by Waynesburg since April 8, 2016. The Jackets also scored its most goals since March 29, 2017.
 
The Jackets open Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play on Saturday, March 30, when they host Thiel. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m.