BOX SCORE

Philadelphia, Pa. - The Holy Family University women's lacrosse team dropped its regular season finale to cross-town rival Philadelphia University, 18-15, in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) road contest Saturday afternoon.

Holy Family wraps up the regular season with a 7-9 overall record and 6-6 in the CACC, while Philadelphia improves to 8-6 overall and 8-2 in conference play.  Despite the loss, Holy Family still earned a spot in next weekend's CACC Championship semifinals hosted by Georgian Court University.  The Tigers are currently the number four seed in the tournament.

Junior Gina Mansi (Washington Twp., N.J./Washington Twp.) scored a game-high six goals to lead the Holy Family offense.  Fellow classmate Katherine Podlinski (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic) recorded a hat trick after scoring three goals.  She also controlled two draws.  Junior Samantha Cornely (Washington Twp., N.J./Camden Catholic) and senior Jennifer James (Philadelphia, Pa./Little Flower) each recorded two goals.  Cornely also controlled a team-best four draws.  

For Philadelphia, senior Jennifer Sica scored a team-high five goals to lead the Rams in scoring.  She also dished out an assist and tallied two ground balls.  Freshman Emily Ray tallied seven points after scoring four goals and dishing out three assists.  Juniors Kalin Hodel and Andrea Saracco each recorded three goals apiece.  Hodel also tallied four assists.

Philadelphia jumped out to a quick four-goal advantage after scoring the game's first four goals.  Hodel capped the rally with a goal at the 24:11 mark.  Holy Family cut the Philadelphia lead in half with back-to-back goals from Mansi and junior Lauren Greco (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock South) to make the score 4-2 with 21:31 left in the half.

Philadelphia responded with a pair of goals to make the score 6-2, however Holy Family answered right back with two goals scored by Mansi to come within two goals of the Rams' lead, 6-4.  

The Rams held on to their two-goal advantage the rest of the half and led 9-7 at the half.

In the second half, Philadelphia maintained its two-goal lead the majority of the half despite Holy Family coming within one goal on three separate occasions.  The Tigers eventually tied the game at 15-15 after sophomore Stephanie McNesby (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) scored an unassisted goal with 4:16 remaining in regulation.

Philadelphia though rallied in the final four minutes scoring three straight goals to secure the 18-15 victory.  Junior Andrea Saracco scored the game-winning goal as Hodel assisted on the play with 3:47 left on the clock.

Holy Family is back in action on Saturday, April 30 in the CACC semifinals hosted by Georgian Court.  Championship pairings and game times will be announced later this week.