The Oglethorpe women's lacrosse team fell to the visiting Huntingdon Hawks 11-6 Wednesday evening at a very windy Oglethorpe Track and Field. The result dropped the team to 1-4 on the season.

Down 6-3 entering the second half of play, the Stormy Petrels possessed the ball for much of the second half but were unable to beat the Huntingdon goalie for the first part of the period. Neither team scored for the opening 18 minutes of the second half and it was the Hawks who tallied the half's opening marker, a man-up goal with 11:50 remaining in the game, that made the score 7-3. Oglethorpe responded with 10:21 left as junior midfielder Juliana Altman weaved her way through the defense and buried a shot past the Hawks goalie to cut the deficit back to three goals, 7-4. The Hawks scored two consecutive goals to make it 9-4 with eight minutes remaining, but Altman again kept Oglethorpe in it with a free position goal to make it 9-5 with 5:31 left. Huntingdon was able to put the game away after that, though, scoring back-to-back goals again before Altman scored on another free position shot with 11 seconds left to pull one back.

The Petrels jumped out to a 2-1 lead early in the game. Though Huntingdon scored the opener, sophomore attacker Madison Coffey knocked home a free position shot less than five minutes into the half and senior midfielder Sydney Sparks added a goal of her own just over five minutes in. The Hawks answered with four straight markers, though, taking a 5-2 advantage with 4:06 remaining in the half. Sparks came back with her second goal of the contest to cut the Huntingdon lead to 5-3, but the Hawks ended the half with a 6-3 edge.

Individually, Altman finished with 3 goals and put 5 of her 6 total shots on goal. She also scooped 4 ground balls, snatched 3 draw controls, and caused 3 turnovers. Sparks scored a pair of goals and put 4 of her 5 shots on target. She scooped 3 ground balls and caused 3 turnovers herself.

As a team, the Petrels forced 29 Huntingdon turnovers while committing 27 themselves. They were 3 for 6 on free position shots to Huntingdon's 2 for 4, and they were successful on 10 of 15 clear attempts while the Hawks were just successful on 10 of 27. Draw controls and shots were fairly even, as well, with the Hawks winning those battles 11-8 and 20-19, respectively. Huntingdon scooped 21 ground balls to Oglethorpe's 16.

"Tonight was a tough loss for us," said Oglethorpe head coach Marissa Giannerini. "We had a lot of possession early in the second half with a chance to get back into it, but we just couldn't convert on any of our chances at goal. We'll keep working hard and come back Saturday looking to get back into the win column, though. This team has a lot of fight and I look forward to a bounce-back performance this weekend."

The Petrels will take on Ferrum Saturday at 1 p.m. from the Oglethorpe Track and Field. After that, they'll host Ohio Northern on Thursday, March 3, before heading out on the road to re-enter SAA play against Rhodes on Saturday, March 5, in Memphis, Tennessee.