BELMONT, N.C. – Freshman Bailey McLeish (Courtice, Ontario/Anderson C.V.I) scored the go-ahead goal with 1.1 seconds left as the IUP women's lacrosse team rallied for a 12-11 victory over Belmont Abbey on Wednesday afternoon.
 
McLeish's goal capped a 10-4 Crimson Hawks' run that started with 1:33 to go in the first half. Down 7-2 with 1:33 left in the first half, IUP received two goals by Kim Hooven (Malvern/Great Valley) just 23 seconds apart before getting another by Sarah Harshman with 45 seconds left to make it a 7-5 heading to the break.
 
Harshman had the opening goal of the second half to close the gap to one, and almost eight minutes later, goals by Carissa Smith (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) and Amy Weinberg (Clarksville, MD/Atholton) tied the game at 8-8 with 21:17 left in the game.
 
After falling behind 10-8, the Crimson Hawks again rallied as Hooven scored two quick goals 33 seconds apart to tie the game with 14:35 left. Hooven finished with a game-high four goals, each one of them assisted by Weinberg, who dished out seven on the day.
 
Belmont Abbey took an 11-10 lead with exactly 5:00 to go on the clock, but IUP answered back with a goal by Tara Nicholas (Germantown, MD/Northwest) with 2:09 to play.
 
The Crusaders controlled the ensuing draw, but Hannah Bertolo (Murrysville/Franklin Regional) forced a turnover and picked up the ground ball, giving the Crimson Hawks the ball with 1:28 to play. IUP took its time on offense as Weinberg eventually found McLeish for the game-winner.
 
McLeish scored two goals on the day, also picking up four ground balls and getting a draw control. Weinberg added a goal to her seven assists to finish with eight points with four draw controls and two ground balls.
 
Defensively, Smith caused three turnovers and picked up four ground balls. Bertolo finished with two caused turnovers and had five ground ball pickups. Angela Lontoc (Columbus, OH/Dublin Scioto) played the entire 60 minutes in the net for the first time all year, coming up with seven saves and five ground balls.
 
The Crimson Hawks improved to 2-3 overall with the win, wrapping up their time in North Carolina with a 2-1 record. They're back in action on Saturday when they face Lock Haven (2-0) for both team's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) openers.
 
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