NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's lacrosse team came up just short in a 14-12 setback at home against Trine on Saturday afternoon in a non-conference contest.

 

The Belles jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead through the first 10:46 of action. Molly Mullett buried a free position goal in the opening five minutes, and Katie Haas worked her way through the critical scoring area for a goal less than two minutes later. Gabby Belsito added a free position goal at the 22:38 mark, and Julia Gorski sent home a close-range goal off of a pass from Haas for the four-goal advantage.

 

Trine posted the next five goals in-a-row to go up 5-4 with 12:15 on the clock as the momentum shifted in favor of the Thunder. Gabby Belsito broke up the scoring streak for Trine with a goal almost five minutes later, but the Thunder quickly responded with a free position goal to take a lead they would not relinquish. After another goal by the visitors made it a 7-5 score, Katie Haas scored with just over two minutes remaining to try to sway some of the energy back to the Belles.

 

The Thunder, however, opened the second stanza on a 5-1 scoring run to build a 12-7 lead with Shannon McCloskey picking up the saint Mary's goal during that span. Erin Dotson made it a 12-8 game with under ten minutes remaining, and Molly Mullett and Erin Doyle posted back-to-back goals to give the Belles some momentum as they trailed 13-10 with 7:36 on the clock. The Thunder responded with a goal just over a minute later to make it 14-10. Saint Mary's made another push to cut into the deficit as Molly Mullett collected her third goal of the game with 2:55 remaining. Mullett added another goal just 52 seconds later to make it 14-12, but the comeback ran out of time for the Belles at home.

 

Molly Mullett had a career-high four goals, tallied a career-best 10 ground balls, and matched her career high of two assists in a game to lead the Belles. The sophomore also added nine draw controls and three caused turnovers. Katie Haas posted two goals and an assist to go along with five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Gabby Belsito scored two goals, and Julia Gorski recorded a goal and two assists. Erin Dotson, Erin Doyle, and Shannon McCloskey each had a goal for the Belles. Emily Kraker made seven saves in goal on the day.

 

The Belles (2-2) are back in action on Tuesday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. when they host Kalamazoo.