The University of Rochester built a 5-2 lead in the first half and held off St. Lawrence University for a 7-4 Liberty League women's lacrosse victory in the league opener for both teams at Rochester on Friday.

The Saints, 2-5 overall and 0-1 in league play, jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Chloe Knapp and Kara Hurley in the first half, but Jamie Wallach scored her 24th of the year for Rochester, now 5-3 and 1-0 in league action, and Madeline Levi scored back-to-back goals at 11:37 and 10:20 of the first half to give Rochester a 3-2 lead.

Breanna Taylor and Lauren Basil scored before the intermission to give UR its 5-2 lead. Kiera Taussig cut the Rochester lead to 5-3 with just over 20 minutes to play in the game, but Elisabeth Watson's free position goal and a goal by Mara Karpp made it 7-3 before Taussig scored her second of the day on a free position to make it a 7-4 game with 49 seconds left.

Addie Cunningham had 10 saves for the Saints while Maire Prosak made nine stops for Rochester. SLU had a 22-21 edge in shots and a 7-6 edge in draw controls. SLU was 13 for 20 on clears while the Yellowjackets had a 26-22 edge in ground balls.

The Saints will play at RIT on Saturday.