A rainy day in Worcester, Massachusetts began a two-game road trip for the Columbia women's lacrosse team on Wednesday, April 8, as they took on Holy Cross in a mid-week thriller. In a game that saw six ties and three lead changes, the Crusaders edged the Lions, 9-8, behind a late goal with under 20 seconds remaining in the game.

The first half alone saw three lead changes and three ties, as the offenses from both teams put together small runs for a hard-fought 30 minutes of play. In the opening five minutes of action, Columbia trailed, 2-1, with its only goal coming from Caroline Joy. The Lions used an early domination of draw controls to erase the deficit with three unanswered goals over the next seven minutes to take a two-goal lead at 18:37.

At 23:46, Victoria Kalamaras found the back of the net off an assist from Sara Ruzzi to spark the Columbia run. Katie Angulo added back-to-back scores off the free-position shot (21:14) and an assist from Jessie Ambrose at 18:37 to give the Lions a 4-2 lead. The Crusaders ended its scoring drought at 15:24, but Columbia responded with a goal by Ruzzi at 14:48 to temporarily hold on to a 5-3 advantage.

To close the first half, Holy Cross put together a three-goal run of their own, taking a 6-5 lead into the break.

The battle continued in the second half with Columbia striking first, behind a goal from Kalamaras at 22:29 to tie the game at 6-6, while notching her second score of the afternoon. Several minutes later, Holy Cross would regain the one-point edge, but Caroline Joy fired in a goal at 8:26 to knot the game at 7-7.

As both teams struggled to find the back of the net in the rain through the next six minutes of action, the Crusaders broke through at 2:02 to take 8-7 lead. Once again, Joy stepped up for the Lions with a big goal with under a minute to play to earn the hat trick and keep the score even, 8-8.

After winning the draw to the gain control of the next possession, Holy Cross maneuvered a quick goal for its leading scorer Laura Ryan at the 18-second mark to hand Columbia an 8-9 defeat.

Up next, the Lions (4-7) will look to bounce back on Saturday, April 11 at 1 p.m. with a trek to Brown.