Philadelphia, Pa. (4/16/14)  The Dominican College women's lacrosse team fell to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) opponent, Holy Family University, 13-7, this afternoon in a game played at Tiger Field.  With the loss, Dominican drops to 7-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

The Tigers got on the scoreboard first and led 1-0 just 1:40 into the game.  The Lady Chargers rallied with a 3-0 run on goals by Gina Sparaco (Freeport, N.Y.), Kelly Barbarite (Smithtown, N.Y.) and Allison Smithwick (Commack, N.Y.) to take a 3-1 lead with under 20 minutes remaining in the half.  A 4-0 Tiger run regained a 5-3 advantage, but back-to-back goals from Sparaco and Smithwick tied the game, 5-5 with 4:10 to go before the intermission.  Holy Family University ended the first half with two straight goals for a 7-5 lead at the break.

HFU added to the lead in the first minute of the second half to extend their lead to 8-5, but almost two minutes later Haliann Fitzgerald (Walden, N.Y.) scored a goal on a man-up opportunity to make the score 8-6.

Following a Tiger goal, senior Traci-Joan Muniz* (Middlesex, N.J.) scored a goal on a free position attempt to bring the Lady Chargers within two goals, 9-7, with just under six minutes left in the game.  Holy Family closed out the game on a 4-0 run for the 13-7 win.

Sparaco and Smithwick each scored two goals, with Smithwick adding an assist in the loss.

Barbarite, Fitzgerald and Muniz netted the other DC goals, while Fitzgerald hade an assist.

Goalie Brittany Kiernan (Clarkstown, N.Y.) made nine saves in the loss.

Dominican returns tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Post University.