ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The last time the Roberts Wesleyan women's lacrosse team beat Mercy was to win the East Coast Conference title in 2021. On Friday evening, the Redhawks defeated Mercy, 12-11 in a come-from-behind victory to go a perfect 6-0 in conference play and win the ECC regular season title.
 
Roberts has now won eight straight games and finished the regular season with an 11-5 overall record and 6-0 ECC record. It's the first time in program history that the team has gone undefeated in conference play. The Redhawks have earned the No. 1 seed for the ECC Championships and will hold home field advantage throughout the conference postseason.
 
The Redhawks didn't hold the lead very long in Friday's contest, but they found the lead when it mattered most. Lucy Rugaber scored the game-winner with 48 seconds remaining off the feed from Emma Blumenstock. It was Rugaber's third goal of the game.
 
"This is a special team," said head coach Kristin Paolini. "They are resilient and find ways to win games. We didn't have our best stuff for most of the game, but the team dug deep and wanted to win. One of our goals was to be ECC regular season champs and the ladies rallied together to get behind that goal and made sure it happened."
 
Roberts scored as many goals in the fourth quarter as they had the entire game to force the comeback. The Redhawks outscored Mercy 6-2 in the final period, including a four-goal run in a two-minute span. Sophia Podszebka kicked off the scoring rally followed by a goal from Kadie Tierney. Rugaber netted the game-tying goal at 10-10, then Tierney scored to give Roberts the 11-10 lead. Mercy stopped the run with 2:36 remaining off a goal by Leah Hansen to tie the game, but Roberts took advantage of a Mercy turnover leading to Rugaber's game-winning goal.
 
Blumenstock led the offense in points again with eight coming off one goal and seven assists.
 
Shawna Lesmerises made seven saves in net to go along with two caused turnovers and three ground balls.
 
Roberts will host the ECC semifinal game on Thursday, May 2 at 6 p.m. on Redhawks field. The team will likely face Molloy University. Seedings will be official after the final conference regular season games finish on Sunday.
 
The Redhawks may have accomplished one of their goals today, but the main goal is still up for grabs.
 
"Our other goal was to win the ECC Championship for the second time in program history," Paolini said.
 
Roberts will get the chance to accomplish that and this time they'll have a chance to do that on their home field.