The American University women's lacrosse team comeback fell short Wednesday afternoon in a 17-14 loss to the Richmond Spiders.  The Eagles were led offensively by a trio of three-goal scorers as Bernadette Maher, Samantha Marshall and Chiara Speziale each notched hat tricks.

American jumped out to a fast start, taking a 2-0 lead following Speziale's first goal of the afternoon with 22:10 remaining in the first.  Following a three-goal spurt by the Spiders, American would regain the lead, taking a 4-3 advantage following Maher's second tally of the afternoon.  The Spiders would follow that with a 6-0 run to push the score to 9-4 in their favor.  The Eagles would close the half with a flurry of goals, tightening the gap to 9-8 as the two teams headed to the intermission.

After both teams traded goals to open the second half, Richmond extended it lead to 12-9 with 19:46 remaining.  The Eagles battled back as Lisa Schaaf and Lauren Schoenberger brought the score to 12-11 with 15:02 left.  With 12:08 remaining Richmond would push the lead back to three following a Danielle Schaevitz goal; but American answered back pulling within 15-14 when Marshall garnered her final tally of the day with 5:00 left in regulation.  The 15-14 margin would be as close as the Eagles would get on the afternoon, however, as the Spiders would close the game with two goals for the final margin of 17-14.

Kaska Komosinski played all 60 minutes in the cage for American, picking up eight saves. In addition to her three goals, Marshall led the defensive effort for American with five ground balls.  Schaaf chipped in two goals and one helper on the offensive end.

American returns to action on Saturday, March 5 when they travel to Norfolk, Va. to take on Old Dominion.  Gametime is set for 1:00 p.m.