NEW YORK – The Columbia women's lacrosse team came out blazing with a strong first-half performance, but Cornell used a late outburst to edge the Lions, 12-9, in Columbia's first Ivy League home contest of the season at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
Columbia moves to 2-5 (0-2 Ivy) on the 2019 campaign, while the Big Red improve to 3-2 (2-0) on the young season.
 
Senior midfielder Laine Parsons led Columbia with a season-high three goals for her first hat trick of the season, all three of which came in the first half. First-year attacker Rachel Graff and sophomore attacker Alexandria Absey also recorded two goals apiece for the Lions, while senior midfielder Lindsey Ewertsen dished out a career-high and game-high four assists for a team-best four points.
 
Parsons ignited the Columbia offense early in the contest, firing in a goal just 57 seconds into play to give the Lions the early lead. Using a pair of goals from junior midfielder Fallon Quinn and Graff, the Lions took a 3-1 lead at the 24:38 mark in the first half. The remainder of the opening period was back and forth, but with 2:05 remaining before halftime, Graff intercepted a pass from Cornell's goalkeeper and quickly dished it to Parsons who put it through to give the Lions a 7-6 lead heading into the break.
 
Both teams were quiet out of halftime, but the Big Red broke through first with the equalizing goal with 23:38 remaining. The Lions responded as first-year Katie Lutz passed to senior midfielder Emily Manville out of a free position attempt, who then connected with Graff for her second goal of the day, giving Columbia an 8-7 advantage. From there, the Big Red recorded four-straight goals and the Lions would not recover.
 
Junior goalkeeper Abby Roberts played all 60 minutes in net for the Lions, registering a career-high 12 saves in the outing, including seven in the first half alone.
 
With a game-high seven draw controls, Ewertsen tied Taylor Quinn's school record for career draw controls with 194. On the season, Ewertsen has already grabbed 39 draw controls which ties for ninth on the school's single-season list.
 
The Lions will be back in action Saturday, March 16, traveling to face UConn in Storrs, Connecticut, at 11:30 a.m. ET.
 
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