ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan women's lacrosse team won its home opener on Wednesday afternoon in a back-and-forth game, defeating Franklin Pierce University, 16-13.
 
What began as a comfortable lead for the Redhawks, turned into a come-from-behind win to improve to 3-1 this season. Roberts held a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter, much in part to three goals by senior attacker Alexis Grant. But Franklin Pierce was able to rally back with a four goal run over a two minute span to tie the game.
 
After trading goals, the Ravens used another four goal run mid-way through the third quarter to take an 11-9 lead, their largest of the game.
 
The fourth quarter belonged to the Redhawks and the momentum shift began with starting goalie, Natalie Arieno. Following a goal by Grant to tie things up at 12-12, Franklin Pierce again had the answer with a goal one minute later to steal back the lead. The Ravens then had an opportunity to extend the lead with a free position attempt, but Arieno made a point-blank save. That save helped turn the tables in the game, leading to a four goal run for Roberts to close out the game and secure the win.
 
"It's exciting (to make big saves) because it does get the energy going," Arieno said. "It's like a switch in the game, where I kind of say 'Let's go make something happen'."
 
The defense, led by Arieno in net was crucial in halting the Raven's offensive attack and holding the opponents to just one fourth quarter goal. Head coach Kristin Paolini knew adjustments needed to be made to allow the Redhawks an opportunity to comeback.
 
"Our defense had to be more aggressive and had to be willing to take some chances," Paolini said. "We had to find a way to cause turnovers and get the ball back into the offensive end."
 
The Redhawks did find a way to create turnovers. The team struggled to control the ball off the draw control, but Roberts aggressive defense found a way to cause 12 turnovers and win the groundball game, 21-14. Arieno had three caused turnovers to go along with her eight saves.
 
Senior Madison Bell had four straight goals to close out the game. Bell finished the game with five goals and five assists. Grant scored five with an assist. Lindsey Brinkel added two goals and four assists, Ellen O'Neil scored twice while Caitlin Harding and Rhiannon Burto both found the back of the net once.
 
"This game showed us that we are capable of making adjustments on the fly and finding different ways to win games," Paolini said. "We sometimes make the game harder on ourselves than it should be, but I'm happy to have picked up a win today."
 
Roberts will be back in action again on Saturday at home against Mercyhurst University. Game time is scheduled for noon.