SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University lacrosse team scored four of the final five goals against conference rival Millersville on Tuesday but could not complete a comeback, falling 9-8 to the visiting Marauders in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) showdown at Robb Sports Complex.
 
Shippensburg (3-5, 0-4 PSAC) held a 4-3 halftime lead over Millersville (6-4, 3-3), keeping the visitors off the scoreboard for the first 13 minutes of the contest. Coming out of halftime, the Marauders erupted for five consecutive goals in a 12-minute span to lead 8-4. SU countered with a goal one minute later to trail 8-5 with 17:09 left, but then both teams were scoreless for the next 12 minutes of play.
 
A tally by junior Ali Harclerode with 5:11 remaining made the score 8-6, but Millersville's Bridget Hufnagel answered 49 seconds later to stretch the Marauder lead back to three goals. Hufnagel led all players Tuesday with five goals.
 
Junior Max Barkley caged her second goal of the year with 2:47 left off a feed from fellow junior Amanda Frank, and senior Tanisha Joseph book-ended the scoring with her second goal of the day to bring SU within a goal with 1:19 to play.
 
Millersville won the ensuing draw and killed a fair bit of the remaining time, but committed two late turnovers in the final 30 seconds. The Raiders were unable to escape their own zone after either opportunity, however, before time expired.
 
Freshman Kyra Shank scored twice in the first half, while sophomore Sarah McLeod scored with 2:11 to go in the first half for her first tally of 2016. Freshman Madi Newman got SU on the board first in the second half and collected four groundballs on the day.
 
Senior Ally Frymoyer had an especially strong first half in goal and made several key stops throughout the day. Eight of her 11 saves came in the first half, while in the second half she had one caused turnover and also collected two groundballs.
 
Junior Annemarie Cericola entered the day second in the PSAC in groundballs but took over the conference lead by adding seven to her total. Cericola also had one caused turnover. Freshman Valerie Hertz was excellent once again, recording four groundballs, two caused turnovers and four draw controls. Sophomore Makenzie Magnotta also had two caused turnovers.
 
Shippensburg had a 6-2 advantage in draws at halftime, but Millersville controlled seven of the 11 second-half draws and maintained possession for much of the second half. Barkley led the Raiders with four draw controls, while Harclerode had two along with Hertz.
 
Tuesday's game was a stark contrast from last year's meeting, in which the Marauders won 20-13. It was the second straight win in the series for Millersville, as the Raiders last won in 2014, 8-7 at Millersville.
 
Shippensburg returns to action at 3 p.m. Friday against Gannon in another home match from Robb Sports Complex.
 
On Saturday, SU will hold its annual "Stick it to Cancer" game at 3 p.m. versus No. 7 Mercyhurst. A limited number of SU's "Stick it to Cancer" t-shirts will be available for sale. Donations are encouraged and will be collected, with proceeds being split 50-50 between Susan G. Komen and the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC).  
 
More information is available at http://ww5.komen.org/ and http://www.ovarian.org/.