LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Washington & Jefferson College women's lacrosse team (0-2) fell by a 16-14 margin in a back-and-forth game with Occidental College (2-4) Monday afternoon in Los Angeles, Calif. as part of the Presidents' spring break trip.

Mya Bolinda (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) finished with four points (three goals, one assist) to go along with a career-high 10 draw controls. Ella Holland (Healdsburg, Calif./Cardinal Newman) tallied four points (three goals, one assist) playing in her home state. Caleigh Bogats (Oakdale, Pa./Chartiers Valley) filled the stat sheet with a career-high 12 draw controls, two goals, an assist and one caused turnover. In addition, Brynne Stewart (Painesville, Ohio/Andrews Osborne Academy) and Bekah Meiklejohn (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) both registered three-point games. Defensively, Sammy Hartz (Ijamsville, Md./Oakdale) had two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Madison Hecker (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) made seven saves over 60 minutes of action in goal.

Back-to-back man-down goals by Bolinda and Anna Kloehn (Canton, Ohio/Jackson) helped the Presidents even the score at 4-4 after the opening quarter. W&J used four-straight points to pull in front with an 8-5 lead during the second quarter. Brynne Stewart (Painesville, Ohio/Andrews Osborne Academy) opened the run with a score before Bogats registered back-to-back goals. Haylee Phenneger (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) netted her first collegiate goal to give the Presidents the three-goal advantage with 5:59 remaining in the second quarter. Occidental ended a scoring drought of nearly nine minutes with a late score to cut the Presidents' lead to 8-6 at halftime.

The Tigers opened the third quarter with five of the first six goals. The run allowed Occidental to lead 11-9 following a player-up goal at the 4:41 mark. The Presidents ended a 10-minute scoring drought with back-to-back goals to even the score at 11-11 entering the fourth. Meiklejohn tallied her first collegiate goal with 42 seconds remaining on the third quarter clock.

Occidental built a 14-12 lead less than five minutes into the final quarter. However, scores by Bolinda and Holland tied the score at 14 all with 6:42 to play. The Tigers netted the eventual game-deciding score with 5:44 remaining. W&J had a few chances to even the score down the stretch. However, two caused turnovers allowed Occidental to pick up an insurance goal with 2:17 to play to ice the game.

The Presidents fell despite a sizable advantage in draw controls (23-9). W&J also had a 30-27 advantage in shots. Occidental led in shots on goal (15-14), ground balls (14-7) and turnover margin (12-9).  

W&J returns to action on Tuesday (March 10) versus California Lutheran. The non-conference contest is scheduled for first draw at 4:00 p.m. local time in California.