GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College women's lacrosse team opened Ohio River Lacrosse Conference (ORLC) play Saturday with a tough 9-8 loss to the Hanover Panthers at the Rissell-Schreyer Dome.
 
Panther Mallory Fogus opened scoring 36 seconds into the contest on an unassisted goal, but the Tomcats responded with three straight scores from Jennifer Rickens (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley), Paige Onomastico (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley ) and Melody Zuniga (Fort Meade, Md./Meade). Hanover went on to outscore Thiel 5-1 over the remained of the first half and held a 6-4 lead at halftime.
 
Paige Scherer (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) cut the lead down to one goal 50 seconds into the second half, but Hanover responded with a pair of goals to hold an 8-5 lead with 21 minutes remaining.
 
The Tomcats refused to give in. Rickens scored a pair of unassisted goals roughly five minutes apart, and Scherer netted the game-tying goal on a pass from Courtney Fatta (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) with 13:59 left in regulation. The game remained tied until Isabella Miller notched the game-winning goal for the Panthers with a little over two minutes left to play in the contest.
 
Rickens led Thiel with four goals while Scherer scored two goals. Zuniga scored a goal, caused two turnovers and recorded two ground balls. Asia Wallace (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) made 13 saves for the Tomcats.
 
Fogus led Hanover with three goals and two assists (5 points) while Dalisha Rivera-Rodriguez scored two goals and added two assists (4 points). Amanda Mousa made five saves and earned the win.
 
Thiel will host the Hiram Terriers Tuesday at the Rissell-Schreyer Dome. The non-conference game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.