NEW YORK – The Columbia lacrosse team won a hard-fought battle against the Marist Red Foxes, 14-11, on a rainy Wednesday evening at Robert K. Kraft Field.
 
With the win, Columbia improves to 3-2 on the season. Meanwhile, Marist falls to 1-6.

"I am very happy we were able to pull out that game in this kind of weather," Head Coach Anne Murray said. "We were able to start out very strong and finish strong. We have some areas that we need to work on, but we will keep pushing forward together!"
 
Columbia came out of the gates firing with senior Dani Falcone scoring just one minute and three seconds into the game to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. Then, Cecelia Messner scored 49 seconds later to extend that lead to 2-0. Marist responded with a goal of its own, but Anna Becker answered quickly to give Columbia a 3-1 lead.

After Marist trimmed the deficit back to one, the Lions finished the quarter with a flurry, scoring three unanswered goals. This was highlighted by Riya Batra scoring her first goal of the season and Messner adding her second goal of the first frame.
 
The second quarter was a high scoring affair, with each team scoring four goals in the period. The Lions scored the first three goals of the quarter, with Falcone scoring her second goal of the game, Becker also scoring her second goal of the game, and Messner securing a first half hat trick. Marist responded with two consecutive goals of its own before Michelle Zhai scored her second goal of the season. Marist would then score the next two goals to cut Columbia's lead to 10-6 at the half. 
 
After some time in the locker room, Marist stole all the momentum. The Red Foxes outscored the Lions 4-1 in the third to get within just one goal of a tie heading into the fourth quarter. Ellie Taylor scored her second goal of the game in the third quarter, trying to keep the Lions' lead intact. 
 
Marist tied the game at 11-11 less than four minutes into the fourth quarter, which was the first tie since the game was 0-0 at the beginning of the afternoon. At that point, Simone Koryszewski subbed in to play the final 11:50 minutes of the game between the pipes, and did not allow a goal while collecting two saves.
 
After Marist tied the game, Taylor scored her third goal of the game to give the Lions a 12-11 lead at the 10:00 minute mark. Becker also scored her third goal of the game two minutes later to extend the lead to two. Messner had the dagger, scoring her fourth goal of the evening with 5:53 remaining, as Columbia pulled out the 14-11 win.
 
Messner led the way with four goals and five points in the contest. Becker, and Taylor each added a hat trick of their own. Zhai matched Messner for the team lead with five points, as she scored one goal and recorded four assists. Zhai is up to 10 assists on the season through just five games.
 
On the defensive end, Cordelia Flemming, Maddy Goger and Natalia Raiszadeh were tied for the team lead in ground balls, with three apiece. Falcone led the way with three caused turnovers. Flemming had a team-high five draw controls.
 
The Lions won despite losing the draw control battle by a 16-12 margin. The Lions made up for losing in the circle by outshooting Marist 36-22, including having more shots-on-goal, 21-16. Columbia had a major advantage in ground balls, 18-8, and also won the turnover battle, with Marist committing 20 turnovers compared to just 14 for the Lions.
 
Columbia is back home on Saturday for their Ivy League opener against fourth-ranked Yale. Opening draw is set for 1:00 p.m.
 
For the latest on Columbia lacrosse, follow @CULionsLax on Twitter and Instagram, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.