WASHINGTON, Pa. - Franciscan women's lacrosse struggled to convert on its offensive possessions but made a lot of improvements overall in a 14-4 loss to Washington & Jefferson College.

"Overall, yes, we lost by 10 but, however, there were a lot of bright spots," head coach Maura Conant said. "We had more possession time in this game, much more than the first game. What was encouraging was the ground balls and our draws weren't off by that much. Our transition was good and our clear percentage was pretty good. We've realized that we need to work on converting on our possession time and making shots "

In the first game of the season against Methodist University last week, Franciscan struggled on the draw control, giving the Pride more possession time. Against the Presidents, the Lady Barons won eight of the 21 draw controls, leading to a more even time of possession.

Washington & Jefferson was much more effective at converting its offense, however, taking 26 shots compared to Franciscan's 16.

"The possession time was comparable but they were able to convert their time better in terms of their shots," Conant said. "We only had half their shots. What's going to be key for us moving forward is figuring out how to capitalize on our possession and how to play smarter and keep up our intensity on the field."

Five of the Presidents 14 goals came off free-position shots, three in the first half and two in the second half.

"A lot of the goals that we gave up were free positions, which means just working out our body positioning on defense and watching three seconds,"  Conant said.

Senior Tracy McClelland scored her first two goals of the season, bringing her career total to 93, while sophomore Mary Krolicki and senior Lauren Noce also scored once.

Freshmen Elizabeth Jordan and Treise McCarthy both played strong games on defense for the Lady Barons. Jordan picked up two ground balls and caused two turnovers while McCarthy had three ground balls and one caused turnover.

"Treise and Elizabeth played mostly defense today and they were just going for it," Conant said. "They were really big on transition, moving the ball up the field."

The Lady Barons will look to improve on their offense in a game against Notre Dame College on Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m.

"We know what we need to work on and we are excited to continue to move forward to make those adjustments for the rest of our games," Conant said.