ASTON, PA – The Wilkes University Colonels continued their 2022 season with a trip to face the Neumann Knights in a nonconference affair Thursday afternoon.
 
The Colonels (2-5) started hot, recording five straight goals to start the game, but the Knights (5-3) got the last word in with five straight goals in the fourth quarter to win 11-10 over the Navy and Gold.
 
Camryn Devitt (Northampton, PA/Northampton) started the day only 13 seconds in at 14:47 in the first with help from Lerch. It was the fastest goal to start a game in program history.  Lerch would grab two goals of her own back-to-back at 13:50 and 9:12 in the first period.  Neither team would score again until 11:56 in the second, where Sarah Bauman broke the drought.  Sam Mullen (Dover, PA/York Catholic) got help from Lerch at 10:56 in the second to set the Colonels up 5-0.
 
Neumann would score five of the next two goals, with Lindsey Fagan recording her first of five goals at 8:44.  Laura Bayzick (Hazleton, PA/Hazleton Area) and Savannah Bauman (Effort, PA/Pleasant Valley) scored at 6:28 and 4:42 to keep the Colonels up 7-1.  The Knights would score four in a row from 1:10 left in the second to 8:41 left in the third, with a pair of man up goals involved to push the Knights within two.  Lerch would break the streak with a goal at 6:32 in the third with help from Devitt.  The Knights would respond at 4:49, but the Colonels finished the third period strong.  Bauman would score man up at 3:42 with help from Allyson Joly (Lincoln, RI/The Tilton School), then Bauman would assist Devitt at 1:46 left in the third to send the Colonels into the fourth up 10-6.
 
The Colonels offense went cold in the fourth as the Knights caught fire once more.  Fagan would score three of the five Knight goals in the frame for a one-quarter hat trick, and her last goal with just 20 seconds left would give the Knights the come from behind victory.
 
Lerch recorded five points and Baumann four, while Bayzick and Kiara Dugey would record five and four ground balls respectively.  Ashley Coughlin (Northampton, PA/Northampton) recorded a complete game in goal, recording seven saves in defeat while Catriona Carrigan had 12 saves for the Knights in their victory.
 
The Colonels wrap up nonconference play with the loss and enter Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at Delaware Valley.  The Colonels and Aggies are 3-3 in the live stats era, with the Colonels getting a 16-11 win at home in 2021.