AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Franciscan women's lacrosse team dropped a tightly contested 11-7 decision to NAIA Ave Maria, Monday afternoon.
 
The Lady Barons traveled to Ave Maria, FL for their spring break trip and opened the week against the Gyrenes. After a quick goal from Ave Maria, freshman Grace Deegan (Akron, OH/Stow) and senior Elizabeth McEntee (Sandwich, MA/Sandwich) scored back-to-back tallies to give Franciscan its first and only lead of the game with 18:38 to play.
 
The Gyrenes answered with three-straight goals to take a 4-2 lead halfway through the first. After a scoreless nine minutes, freshman Margaret McKee (Raleigh, NC/Cardinal Gibbons) picked up a ground ball after a blocked shot and the Lady Barons completed their clear. With 5:56 left before the break, sophomore Maureen Cain (Cleveland, OH/Rocky River) went straight to cage and got the Lady Barons to within one, 4-3.
 
Cain's goal would be the last of the half as the two teams went into the break with Ave Maria leading, 4-3.
 
Ave Maria pushed its lead to 5-3 just over two minutes into the second half but a free position goal from Deegan cut the lead back down to one, 5-4, with 18:47 left. The Gyrenes answered with a pair of goals in just under two minutes of game play to push their lead back to three, 7-4, with 16:38 to play.
 
Another free position goal from Deegan got the Lady Barons back to within two, but Katelyn Sherman answered to give the hosts an 8-5 lead with 11:21 to play.
 
Freshman Annie King (Westerville, OH/St. Francis deSales) got on the board with 8:12 to play but the Gryenes rattled off three-straight goals to take an 11-6 lead with 1:42 left. Deegan scored the game's final goal with 12 seconds left to seal the 11-7 game for Ave Maria.

Deegan led the Lady Barons with four goals while senior Elizabeth Jordan (West Milford, NJ/Mary Help of Christians) won a team-best three draw controls. Bain finished the day with 15 saves in net.
 
The Lady Barons will spend the rest of the week training in Florida before returning home. Franciscan hits the field for its next game on March 24 as the Lady Barons travel to Siena Heights for a 2:00 pm contest.