The St. Lawrence University women's lacrosse team lost its 2012 season opener on Tuesday to Nazareth College by the score of 13-12 in West Palm Beach, FL. The Saints were led by senior Alanna Piroli and junior Holly Noyes, who each had three goals.

St. Lawrence (0-1) was impressive throughout the game, as the Saints owned the edge in shots (30-25), ground balls (21-11) and clears (12-of-15). However, the Golden Flyers (1-1) came away with the win behind 6-of-10 shooting on free position tries.

"We were certainly a little jittery with it being our first game," said St. Lawrence head coach Jodi Canfield. "We had some bad turnovers at inopportune times and though we controlled the tempo, we just didn't come out on top."

Nazareth, which was led by Amy McIntosh's four-goal outing, opened up a 3-1 lead in the opening 7:00 minutes before the Saints battled back with three straight goals. Noyes made it 3-2 before back-to-back tallies by junior Hanne Bailey gave the Scarlet and Brown a 4-3 edge.

The two teams exchanged two goals each to make it 6-5 St. Lawrence, but the Golden Flyers would score three of the final four goals in the half to snag an 8-7 lead at intermission. Brigid Hurley, Piroli, Soeurette Morley and Noyes would add goals for the Saints in the first half.

McIntosh would extend the Golden Flyers' lead to 10-7 by scoring the first two goals of the second half. St. Lawrence would again show its resiliency by rebounding with three straight goals to tie the score at 10-10, with Hurley, Piroli and Noyes squaring the game with 9:09 remaining in regulation.

Megan Cregan and Alyssa Johnston scored free position goals only 2:02 apart to give Nazareth a 12-10 lead before senior Kendall Harty's unassisted goal pulled the Saints to within one with 6:26 remaining. St. Lawrence would have several bids sail just wide of the cage or get deflected in front, allowing the Golden Flyers to take a 13-11 lead with 2:00 left on a goal by Kelsey McNaboe.

Though Piroli would take a pass from Hanne Bailey and score with 1:06 remaining in the game to get St. Lawrence within one again at 13-12, the Saints were unable to come up with the tying goal in the last minute, giving the Golden Flyers the narrow one-goal victory.

Piroli added a pair of assists for a five-point outing, while junior Stephanie O'Rourke also added a pair of helpers for St. Lawrence.

Senior Paige Powell made her collegiate debut in goal for the Saints on Tuesday and turned in an eight-save performance, with six of the 13 goals she allowed coming on free position tries. Tara Prosak made 12 saves in the win for Nazareth including eight in the first half.

St. Lawrence will be in action again on Thursday, March 15 in West Palm Beach, FL when it takes on Potsdam State at 9:00am.