EDWARDSVILLE – Kyra Boccio (Dingmans Ferry, Pa./Delaware Valley) and Ashley Burkhardt (Havre de Grace, MD/Havre de Grace) shined over the final 25 minutes of play as the Wilkes University women's lacrosse team outscored Notre Dame of Maryland University 11-4 over that span to hand first-year head coach Sarah Burkarth her first career coaching victory. Boccio, who reached 100 career goals during the game, scored the final two tallies in the closing minutes to push Wilkes to a dramatic 16-15 victory Saturday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium.

Wilkes improved to 1-1 on the young season while Notre Dame of Maryland dropped the non-conference season-opener.

Burkhardt scored her first of a career-high seven goals just 34 seconds into the game to give the Colonels the early lead off an assist from Camryn Devitt (Northampton, PA/Northampton). Megan Morales answered just 13 seconds later for the Gators with the first of her game-high eight goals. Morales then scored to give Notre Dame its first lead at the 23:02 mark of the first half. Burkhardt tied the score at two a little over seven minutes later off an assist in transition from Allyson Joly (Lincoln, RI/Tilton).

After Morales completed her hat trick, Boccio evened the score. Then just over a minute later the senior scored on a free position chance to reach the 100 career goal milestone and put the Colonels ahead 4-3 with 8:02 showing on the first half clock.

The Gators answered with three-consecutive goals over a one-minute stretch to go ahead 6-4 before Boccio completed her hat trick at the 3:32 mark. Notre Dame then closed the half scoring three goals within 29 seconds during the final minute of action to take a 9-5 lead into the break.

Kirstin McGee then pushed the Gators run to five-straight goals and the lead to 11-5 with two goals to open the second half. Devitt stopped the run with her second goal of the season at the 24:54 mark and started the Wilkes rally.

Burkhardt scored next to complete her hat trick and then the sophomore tallied another goal on a free position shot. Domenica Lerch (Northampton, PA/Northampton) then scored her first career goal as the Colonels closed the Gators lead to 11-9 at the 19:51 mark and forced a timeout by the visitors. Wilkes kept coming as Burkhardt netted her fifth and sixth goals of the day, first off a pass from Sierra Duman (Smyrna, DE/Smyrna) and then on the free position to knot the score at 11-11 with 16:55 left. Morales and McGee stopped the six-goal run for Wilkes as the duo helped set each other up for consecutive goals to put Notre Dame back ahead 13-11 and then Morales scored on a free position shot to push the lead back to three.

Laura Bayzick (Hazleton, PA/Hazleton Area) then struck for her first career goal on a free position shot to make it 14-12 with 15:18 still showing on the clock. Boccio ended a scoreless stretch with her fourth of the game at the 9:50 mark and then Burkhardt tallied her seventh to tie the score at 14-14 with 6:28 left. Just over a minute later Morales pushed the Gators back ahead but Boccio answered just 42 seconds later to tie the game again with 4:42 left on a free position chance.

Sarah Carlini (Collegeville, PA/Pope John Paul II) then made a huge save on a free position shot by Morales with 2:47 left while the Colonels were on the man-down. Following a Wilkes turnover, Duman forced a turnover by the Gators and collected the ground ball. She got the ball to Boccio who found her way to the face of goal by beating a defender and placed the ball past the goalkeeper to give the Colonels their first lead since there was 8:02 left in the first half with a man-down goal.

A man-down again in the closing moments, Jessica White (Willow Grove, PA/Upper Moreland) picked up a crucial ground ball following a Gators turnover and the Colonels were able to clear the zone and run the clock out to complete the comeback victory.

The Colonels held advantages in shots (48-31), shots on goal (34-28) and ground balls (29-23). Wilkes was also successful on 13-of-19 clears while Notre Dame went 11-of-23 on its chances. Wilkes was 5-of-14 on free position shots while Notre Dame was 6-of-13.

Burkhardt (7 goals) and Boccio (6 goals, 1 assist) each finished with seven points. Lerch and Devitt each finished with two points for the Colonels. Boccio led Wilkes with seven ground balls and Bayzick was the team leader with eight draw controls.

Carlini made 13 saves for Wilkes while her counterpart Marie Salas stopped 18 shots.

The Colonels return to Schmidt Stadium on Tuesday to face Purchase College with game time set for 4:00 p.m. during spring break week for Wilkes students.