WINCHESTER, Va. - The Haverford College Women's Lacrosse team (3-3), who is receiving votes in the latest lLWomen/IWLCA poll, was edged in a heartbreaker at Shenandoah (4-1), another school receiving votes in the latest ILWomen/IWLCA poll, on a warm and sunny afternoon at Aikens Stadium on the campus of Shenandoah University. 

Brooke Epstein paced the Fords in the scoring department Thursday, leading the team in goals with three and assists with two. 

Defensively, Lizzie Healy scooped up four ground balls, and caused one turnover. In between the pipes, Lizzie Symonds made six saves against a tough Hornet offense.

Shenandoah raced out of the gates to begin the contest, going on a 3-0 scoring run in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Hornets saw three different players get on the score sheet in that stretch, as Alex Ripkin, Gabriella Raspanti, and Sofia Albi all found the back of the net. To close out the first quarter, Daniela Martini and Abby Bonner ripped shots past the goalkeeper to pull the Fords back within two, 3-2, heading into the second period of play. 

Elizabeth Szell handed Shenandoah a huge insurance goal to begin the second quarter, only to have Ellie Hughes pull one back for the Fords, with a goal at the 11:14 mark. With 8:17 remaining Ainsley Buckner extended the lead back to two goals, as Shenandoah went into the halftime break up 5-3. 

Buckner picked up right where she left off in the first half, sneaking a player-down shot past Symonds at the 10:26 mark to increase the Hornet advantage to 6-3. On the player-up advantage this time, Albi scored her second goal of the game to push Shenandoah's lead to 7-3 with 9:38 left in the third quarter. However, Haverford would come rallying back, scoring two unanswered goals to pull back within two at 7-5 with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter. The goals came from a player-up strike by Esptein, and a second goal of the matchup for Martini. Emily Ransom posted a goal to make it 8-5 Shenandoah, before Tiffany Mikulis answered less than a minute later on the player-up advantage to trim the Hornet lead down to 8-6.

Now facing a player-down situation, Ripken rattled off her second goal of the contest with 2:02 left in the third quarter, before Epstein tossed in her second goal of the game with just 39 seconds left in the third as the Hornets held onto a narrow 9-7 lead headed into the final stanza.

In the fourth quarter, Epstein recorded her fourth hat-trick of the season, after ripping a shot past Shenandoah goalkeeper Madison Perry to make it just a one-goal game at 9-8, with 9:08 flashing on the scoreboard. Not to be outdone, Buckner answered Epstein's hat trick, securing one of her own, scorching a shot past Symonds to bring the game back to a two-goal game at 10-8 Hornets, with 5:41 to go.

After a Mikulis player-up free-position goal with just 43.8 seconds left made the score 10-9, Haverford had some momentum. However a penalty called on Epstein with  27.1 seconds remaining and a card on Mikulis with about nine seconds remaining, iced the game for Shenandoah, as the Hornets prevailed 10-9.

Women's lacrosse will be back in action on Saturday, March 16, as the Fords continue their spring break trek southwards to Newport News, Virginia, to take on No. 15 Christopher Newport at 12 p.m.