The American University lacrosse team faced an early deficit, but battled back and held off a Lehigh rally in the second half for the 18-15 victory on Saturday to improve to 3-1 in the Patriot League.

Lehigh (6-6, 2-2) took a quick 3-0 lead and went up by as many as four, 7-3, with 14:16 remaining in the first half. The Eagles answered with a 6-0 run begun by an unassisted goal from Emily Burton to take the 9-7 lead with 4:36 left. Chelsea Retaleato found the back of the net for the Mountain Hawks to close out the half and cut American's lead to one, 9-8.

American (7-5, 3-1) tallied three straight goals, including two from Paige Lin, to take a 12-8 lead to open the second half. Leigh Ann Torcivia stopped the run for the Mountain Hawks to cut the lead to three. The Eagles scored three more for their largest lead of the game, 16-10, with 12:48 remaining.

Carli Sukonik scored three straight goals for Lehigh to put American's lead at three once again, 16-13, with nine minutes left in the game. The two teams traded goals in the closing minutes but American held on for the 18-15 victory to remain in second place in the Patriot League standings.

"This was a really big win, we were going into it with tied records with Lehigh," said Head Coach Laura Campbell following the game. "I think a lot of players stepped up and it was a good effort across the board."

Burton tallied a team-high five goals while Lin matched her career-high with four, also adding one assist. Burton collected four ground balls with a career-high eight draw controls and Kaska Komosinski recorded six saves between the pipes for American.

Sukonik led Lehigh with seven goals and Julie McBrien added four. MaryLeah DiNisco had nine saves for the Mountain Hawks.

The Eagles will return to Jacobs Field next week on Saturday, April 7 at 1 p.m. to take on Lafayette. Prior to the game, the team will honor the accomplishments of its five senior student-athletes.