PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Westminster women's lacrosse team lost a hard-fought Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) battle, 14-13, at Chatham tonight in both team's conference opener.
 
Down 14-9 with 13 minutes to go in the game, Westminster (0-3, 0-1 PAC) kept battling and scored four unanswered goals, led by sophomore Ava Krensky (Bethesda, MD / Walter Johnson) with a hat trick during the run. Krensky scored the final goal, cutting Chatham's lead to 14-13, at the 1:05 mark. The Cougar defense, however, held off the Titan comeback for the remainder of the contest.
 
The Titans started the game with an early 1-0 lead, courtesy of a goal by senior Marisa Keller (Canonsburg, PA / Canon-McMillan) seven minutes into the game. Chatham (3-1, 1-0 PAC) responded with two-straight goals to take a 2-1 lead with 21 minutes left in the first half. The Titans tied the game twice with the latest at 3-3 (13:23). The Cougars answered the last tie with three consecutive goals and led 6-3 four minutes later. Chatham held a four-goal, 8-4 lead at halftime.
 
After the Cougars took a 9-4 lead to start the second half, Westminster went on a 3-0 run (all goals less than two minutes apart), getting within two goals of the Cougars' lead (9-7). Chatham, however, took another five-goal lead, up 12-7 with 15 minutes to play. After the Titans scored twice, the Cougars went back up by five with a 14-9 lead with 13 minutes left.
 
Krensky led all scorers with a career-high six goals (three coming in the final 13 minutes). Keller also tied her career-high goals mark with three, including her first goal of the season. A third Titan registered a career-high in goals with sophomore Stephanie Cimini (Mars, PA / Mars Area) earning two. Also scoring for the Titans were senior Cortlynn Douds (Beaver Falls, PA / Blackhawk) and sophomore Emiley Kushner (Cecil, PA / Canon-McMillan) who each had a goal.
 
Titan junior goalkeeper Emma Bradley (South Fayette, PA / South Fayette) collected a career-high 16 saves in a complete-game effort. Cimini also led the Titans in won draw controls (career-high eight) and gathered in a career- and game-high 10 ground balls. Additionally, Cimini tied Krensky with a team-high two caused turnovers. 
 
Chatham was led by former Titan Bria Braddock who tallied a game-high seven points (team-high five goals and a game-high two assists).
 
Westminster will next travel to Franciscan on Monday, April 5 at 7 p.m.