GENESEO, N.Y. – Nazareth's women's lacrosse team was served its first conference loss in a 21-11 defeat at Geneseo in an Empire 8 conference contest. Senior Sophia Scialdone finished with a team-high seven points with three goals and four assists.

Following the loss, Nazareth drops to 8-5 overall and 4-1 in conference games. With the victory, the Knights improve to 7-6 overall and 4-1 in Empire 8 games.

Midway through the first quarter, senior Emily Reichard put the Golden Flyers on the board after receiving a pass from graduate student Grace Morse. Reichard rolled around her defender and found space in the right side of the net to cut Nazareth's initial deficit to 3-1. Following Geneseo's fourth goal, senior Julia Dietz brought the Golden Flyers back to within two goals when she scored on a low shot. Classmate Katherine McPeak found Dietz open towards the right wing to set up the scoring opportunity.

The Knights scored seven of the next nine goals to pull away and claim an 11-4 at halftime. During the Geneseo run, McPeak tallied Nazareth's third goal after receiving a pass from Scialdone with 7:48 to play in the second quarter. Scialdone battled through a pair of defenders to get a bounce pass to McPeak at the front of the net. With just under three minutes left in the second, Scialdone connected with McPeak again, and McPeak scored on a shot from about five yards away.

The Golden Flyers and Knights traded goals in the third quarter with each team scoring five times. Scialdone tallied three of Nazareth's goals with graduate student Liddie Hoare and Dietz recording the other two goals.

Scialdone's first goal was set up when senior Makenna Misiurewicz collected a loose ball to maintain possession. She passed to graduate student Emily Paddock, who found Scialdone open near the left side of the crease. Scialdone took a couple of steps to improve her angle then buried her shot inside the right post. Hoare's goal came with Nazareth down a player. Dietz passed inside to Hoare, and she scored on a high shot. Then, Scialdone assisted on Dietz's goal when Scialdone found Dietz in front of the crease. Dietz fired a shot into the top right of the net to bring the Golden Flyers to within 13-7 with 7:30 to play in the quarter.

Scialdone recorded unassisted goals for Nazareth's last two goals of the third. With 4:13 to play in the quarter, she drove from the top of the 12-meter fan past multiple Geneseo defenders and scored on a shot under the crossbar. About two minutes later, she scored in transition after the Golden Flyers cleared the ball quickly.

Just 20 seconds into the fourth, Hoare scored her second goal of the game after catching a centering pass from Scialdone. Hoare's goal cut Nazareth's deficit to six goals again, this time 16-10. After the Knights tallied the next goal, the Golden Flyers took advantage of having an extra player after Geneseo was given a yellow card. Senior Grace Seither passed to Reichard, who was in front of the crease. Reichard made a quick shot to tally her second goal of the contest.

Following Reichard's goal, neither team scored for almost five minutes, then the Knights scored four times in a span of 3:11 for the 21-11 victory.

Junior Allie Klestinec finished with six saves for Nazareth. Emily DeJohn played the first half in the Geneseo net and made five saves while allowing four goals. Teagan Culhane played the second half and made five saves while allowing seven goals.

Geneseo finished with a small advantage in total shots (35-31), ground balls (14-11), and caused turnovers (10-8).

The Golden Flyers are in action again on Wednesday, April 16th, when Nazareth travels to Alfred for another Empire 8 game.