The Belmont Abbey women's lacrosse team fell at the fifth-ranked Limestone Saints by a 22-8 score this afternoon in a Conference Carolinas matchup. The win advances the Limestone mark to 11-1 overall and 3-0 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey drops to 4-6 overall and 2-2 in Conference Carolinas.

Lindsay Connolly and Laura Dowd both led the Crusaders with two goals. Emily Hudgins, Megan Patton, Katy Connery and Rebecca Diggs all had one. Connolly finished with two assists, while Lauren DiChiara, Dowd and Hudgins each had one.

Connolly scored the first goal of the contest just 23 seconds into the contest off of a pass from Dowd, but Limestone countered with eight unanswered goals by eight different players to open up an 8-1 advantage. Dowd halted the Saints surge with her first goal of the game at the 9:07 mark. After another Saints goal, Patton and Dowd netted consecutive winners 56 seconds apart to close the deficit to 9-4, but Limestone scored the final three goals of the period to carry a 12-4 lead into halftime.

Hudgins scored the first goal of the final period on a free position shot at the 28:09 mark, but that was followed by four-straight from Limestone to move its lead to 16-5. Connery stopped the slide with a goal from a DiChiara pass, but the Saints scored three unanswered until Connolly and Diggs scored on back-to-back possessions. The Saints scored the final three goals of the game to seal the win.

Dowd scored two goals on two shots while scooping up three ground balls and winning a pair of draw controls. She also had one caused turnover. Connolly also scored two goals on two shots with three ground balls. Mary Frommling finished with two of the Abbey's six caused turnovers.