Danes’ rally falls short vs. Cornell

The UAlbany women’s lacrosse team rallied to within one twice in the fourth quarter, but ultimately couldn’t find the equalizer as the Great Danes lost 18-15 to Cornell on Saturday in their home opener at John Fallon Field.

Entering the fourth quarter trailing 14-11, the Danes quickly found themselves down by four as Cornell’s Shannon Brazier scored 56 seconds in.

But junior midfielder Katie Pascale started the rally for UAlbany when she scored on a solo effort with 9:16 left. Teammate Shonly Wallace then scored following a foul less than a minute later to pull within 15-13. Junior attacker Bryer Hogg then pulled the Danes to within one at 15-14 with 5:43 left, but Cornell regained a two-goal lead.

Pascale then found junior Allie Maloney to get within 16-15 with 4:14 left. That was as close as the Danes would get.

A goal by Cornell’s Josie Vogel pushed the lead back up to two with 3:03 left , and then Brazier wrapped up the scoring with 14 seconds left.

Maloney scored her first of the game six minutes in on a feed from Pascale to give UAlbany a 5-1 lead. Cornell rallied, scoring five of the next seven to trim UAlbany’s lead to 7-6.

After each team scored three in the second period, Cornell exploded in the third for five goals while limiting the Great Danes to a single tally.

Cornell’s Ellie Horner stopped nine shots for the Big Red (1-0), while senior Aislinn Sweeney stopped nine for the Great Danes (0-2).

Pascale led all scorers with nine points for the Great Danes, on five goals and four assists. Wallace finished with three goals for UAlbany while Maloney and Hogg each added two goals and an assist.

Cornell was led by Brazier and Maggie Pons, who scored four goals each.