NEW YORK - The Columbia lacrosse team dropped a back-and-forth battle that came down to the very last second against the Monmouth Hawks on Saturday afternoon at Kraft Field. 

With the Hawks leading 13-12 with just over a minute to play, sophomore Alison Surace caused her career-high fourth turnover and scooped up her career-high fourth ground ball. The Lions cleared the ball, and called timeout with one minute remaining. Searching for the best shot, it was Dani Falcone who charged forward with 10 seconds remaining looking to tie the game, but her shot was just high and the Hawks held on for the one-goal victory. 

"This was a great test for us as a team," Head Coach Anne Murray said. "It was a physical game and we kept in the fight the whole time. A few small moments ended up adding up by the end of the game and we will learn and grow from this experience. We are proud of this team. It was great to see some of our top performers step up and find ways to finish today."

Cecelia Messner led the way for the Lions with a career-high five goals and six points. She got started right away, scoring her first goal of the season to give Columbia a 1-0 lead after a beautiful find from Michelle Zhai in front of the net. 

After Monmouth tied the game a few minutes later, it was Zhai who found the back of the net this time to put the Lions back in front. With a minute to go in the first quarter, the Hawks evened things up and the second quarter began with a 2-2 tie. 

Falcone broke that tie with her first goal of the season, but once again Monmouth had an answer. The Hawks scored three unanswered goals to pull ahead by a score of 5-3, but this time it would be the Lions to respond in a big way. Messer ignited a 4-0 Columbia run with her second goal of the afternoon, which included the first goal of the season from Cordelia Flemming. 

Columbia looked to be taking a 7-6 lead into halftime, but a late turnover allowed Monmouth's Mary Kate George to find the back of the net with under a second remaining on the clock. The Lions and Hawks would head to the locker rooms deadlocked. 

Messner was the only Lion to score in the third quarter, adding two more goals to her total, but Monmouth began to pull away. The Hawks pulled out to a 13-10 lead with seven minutes remaining, but Columbia wouldn't go down without a fight.

Sophie Zachara netted her first goal of the season with five minutes left in the game to trim the Hawks' lead to just two goals, and Anna Becker pulled the Lions to within one goal with a free-position goal with four minutes remaining. Unfortunately, Monmouth's defense stiffened for the remainder of the contest and helped the Hawks come away with the 13-12 victory.  

In addition to her career-high and team-high five goals and six points, Messner also collected a career-high and team-high four ground balls. Falcone led Columbia with a season-high five draw controls to go with two goals and one assist. Becker added two more goals, an assist, and two ground balls in her second career game. 

Led by Surace, the Lion defense forced 19 Monmouth turnovers and collected 24 ground balls to the Hawks' 18. Columbia also outshout the Hawks, 31-28, and had more shots on goal, 22-18, but it wasn't enough. 

In her second career start between the pipes, Ava Kimche had five saves, two caused turnovers, and four ground balls. 

Columbia will look to bounce back next weekend, as the Lions travel to Philadelphia to take on the Penn Quakers in the 2024 Ivy League Opener on Saturday afternoon. Opening draw is set for 1 p.m.

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