Box | Updated stats
ENGLEWOOD, Fla. -- Trailing by as many as five goals midway through the first half Friday, Nazareth's women's lacrosse team rallied to outscore Westfield State 6-2 in the second half to squeeze out an 11-10 victory over the Owls in non-conference action.

The victory marked the second one-goal victory of the spring break week for the Golden Flyers, who evened their overall record at 3-3. Westfield State is 2-3.

To their credit, the Golden Flyers didn't panic when Westfield State scored four times before the game was three minutes old. After Nazareth's Addilys Geitner put the Golden Flyers on the board with an unassisted tally, the Owls scored two more times to go up 6-1 with 17 minutes left in the half.

Nazareth finally got their offense rolling later in the half as goals by Lauren Caldwell, Geitner again, Jordan Knapp and Kellie Byrne closed the gap to 8-5 before halftime.

The Golden Flyers scored four straight times to open the second half to take a 9-8 lead. Emma Robinson scored the first two goals. Then Lily Aldrich tied the score on a free-position shot with 16:11 left. Two minutes later, Arianna Torpey put Nazareth ahead for the first time with an unassisted score.

The momentum shifted again when Westfield State scored twice within a 23-second span to regain the lead at 10-9.

One minute after that, Geitner recorded the assist on a goal by Callahan Lyon that tied the score again at 10-10. The game-winning goal came with 8:48 to go on an unassisted tally by freshman Phoebe Barnett.

Nazareth had chances to extend the lead, but Owls goalie Maria Woodall made three saves down the stretch, including one on a free-position attempt by Aldrich. Westfield State also had chances, but Nazareth goalie Brianna Rizzari made two of her 15 saves in the closing seconds. Rizzari also finished with seven ground balls and Caldwell secured three draw controls.

The Golden Flyers return north to open their Empire 8 Conference schedule Saturday at Elmira at 3 p.m.