The women’s lacrosse team traveled to Syracuse, N.Y., to take on Le Moyne (4-7) in a close 13-12 win on Sunday.

In just the first five minutes of play, redshirt sophomore Erica Rybinski recorded two assists to seniors Taylor Lucy and Taryn McKenna. Despite the early lead, Le Moyne responded with three unanswered goals in the following five minutes, pushing them to a 3-2 lead. Before the end of the first period, both the Dolphins and the Wildcats put three more in the net. Other first-half scorers included senior Katie Stone, Rybinski and Lucy, who landed one in the net just 26 seconds before halftime off an assist from sophomore Mia Naccarato.

The Wildcats began the second half aggressively when sophomore Rachel Lasda scored two goals in the first six minutes of play; however, it was not yet enough to shut down Le Moyne, who responded with four unanswered goals in just seven minutes, bringing them to a 10-7 lead. McKenna helped initiate the Wildcats’ comeback, scoring off an assist from sophomore Nora Wallace, which was followed by another unassisted goal from Le Moyne, taking the score to 11-8. With 15 minutes left to play, Rybinski’s assist to sophomore Kyler O’Shea closed Le Moyne’s lead to two.

Sophomore Carly Miller followed shortly after with a goal on a free position shot, and it was once again a one-point game. After three scoreless minutes, Le Moyne scored their last goal before the Wildcats took over the game.

With five minutes remaining on the clock, Lucy’s pass to Stone closed Le Moyne’s lead to one – a lead they did not keep for long. Rybinski’s score on a free position shot tied the score at 12, but the standout midfielder was not finished yet. Rybinski added a fourth and final assist to McKenna, who scored the game-winning goal with 2:54 left on the clock.

In total, there were five ties and four lead changes, but the Wildcats’ persistence in the final minutes helped them to bring home a 13-12 victory. Sophomore Maggie Langan contributed six saves in goal for the Wildcats, while five different players had multi-goal games.

The Wildcats’ win over Le Moyne was their third consecutive, following an overtime battle Tuesday against Navy in Annapolis, Md. McKenna, who scored an astounding seven goals against Navy, recorded two in overtime to help bring Villanova to a 15-14 win.

The team now has a series of five upcoming non-conference home games, the first of which will be against the University of California-Davis this Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m.