WHEELING, W. Va. – The Wheeling Jesuit women's lacrosse attack won the second period, but the Shepherd first-half lead was too much and took the match, 16-8, Friday night.
 
Trailing 14-3 at the half, the Lady Cardinals (3-6/1-1 Mountain East) found the net three times in the first five minutes of the second half and made it four scores in a row to pull to within 14-7 with 18 minutes left. The Lady Rams (7-3/3-0 MEC) outscored their host, 2-1, in the final 15 minutes for the victory.
 
The WJU defense regrouped for a strong second-half effort. The Lady Cardinal defensive unit held Shepherd to two goals and seven second-period shots compared to 21 attempted in the first half. The Lady Cardinal offense did its part with 13 second-half shots and recorded five goals.
 
Elizabeth Hales paced the Wheeling Jesuit attack with three goals, while Holly Deckert added two of her own.  Kori Hickman assisted on three home goals.
 
Jessie Tufnell scored once and assisted on one goal. Paige Plesich and Olivia Krock had one goal apiece. Markie Wright passed for one assist.
 
WJU goalie Maire Austin posted seven saves.
 
Shepherd's Georgia Karr led all performers with four goals and two assists.
 
The Lady Rams raced out to a 6-0 advantage over the first 4:50 of the match. Deckert put WJU on the board (22:36), but Shepherd scored two more times in 43 seconds to increase the margin to 8-1 halfway through the opening period.
 
Tufnell netted her goal 15 seconds into the second period and she was followed by Hales and Deckert scores in the next four minutes for a 14-6 score. With 18:18 remaining, Krock scored for WJU to make it 14-7, but her team could get no closer.
 
Wheeling Jesuit travels to face Urbana College in a Sunday match starting at noon.