Baltimore, Md. – Notre Dame of Maryland University built a six-goal lead at halftime of Saturday afternoon's Colonial States Athletic Conference women's lacrosse opener against Keystone College and held on for a 15-10 victory.  The Gators move to 1-3 (1-0 CSAC) with their first win of the season while dropping the Giants to 2-3 (0-1 CSAC) on the spring.      
 
Emily Hawkins (Glenside, Pa./Cheltenham) opened the scoring 1:13 into Saturday's contest, but Notre Dame countered with the next five goals to claim a 5-1 lead at the 21:17 mark of the first half.  Back-to-back goals from Hannah Zuchowski (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro Area) and Savanna Robinson (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) brought Keystone to within a pair before the Gators reeled off four straight markers to claim a 9-3 advantage.
 
Nina Hodanich (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) scored with 10 minutes left in the opening frame before the hosts added two more tallies to stretch their lead to seven goals.  Hodanich netted the final goal of the half with 23 seconds remaining to cut Keystone's deficit to 11-5 at halftime. 

Kayla Bain (Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) opened the scoring in the second half for the Giants to make it an 11-6 game.  After a goal by Notre Dame of Maryland, April Llewellyn (Plains, Pa./Coughlin) and Alex Smith (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) tallied for Keystone to cut the Gators' lead to 12-8 with 18:25 remaining in regulation.
 
The hosts countered with a pair of tallies to go up by six at the 13:18, but the Giants pulled back to within four at 14-10 on back-to-back goals from Hawkins with nine and a half minutes remaining.  Notre Dame of Maryland notched the game's final tally with 5:10 left on the clock though to close out the five-goal victory.
 
Kirstin McGee had three goals and one assist to lead Notre Dame of Maryland while Megan Morales and Summer Corey tallied three goals apiece in the victory.  Deja Martin made 21 saves in goal for the Gators to pick up the win. 
 
Hodanich scored two goals and assisted on two others to pace Keystone's attack while Hawkins finished with three goals.  Daphne Leenas (Ringwood, N.J./Lakeland Regional) made 14 saves in goal and collected a game-high 11 groundballs, Hodanich had eight groundballs, and Bain scooped up seven groundballs on the afternoon.  Robinson led the Giants with three caused turnovers in the loss.
 
Keystone held a 36-34 edge in shots on goal for the game along with a 52-36 advantage in groundballs, but Notre Dame of Maryland won 25 of the game's 27 draw led by 13 from Morales.
 
Keystone will return home on Wednesday to host Marywood University in a CSAC match starting at 4:00 p.m. on the turf field in La Plume.