LEWISBURG, Pa. - Led by four goals from Reagan Murdoch and four assists from Alyssa Apuzzo, a comeback effort from the American University lacrosse team came up short against Bucknell on Friday evening. The Eagles held the Bison scoreless in the fourth quarter and cut a four-goal deficit in half, but the rally ended at 11-9. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Three of Apuzzo's four assists were to Murdoch, with the other going to Becca Frank. Her helper at the 3:23 mark of the third quarter secured her 100^th career point. She now has 15 assists on the year, and Murdoch maintains her team-leading goal count with 35.
• Frank added a second goal, along with a pair from Kristin Hegarty that both came on free position chances. Annabelle Jackson added one more to round out American's offensive effort. 
• Maddy Spratt was the leader in the draw control circle, collecting eight on the day. Freshman Peyton Coleman added two, and Frank had one. 
• The Eagles were outshot 25 to 15 and 20 to 13 in shots on goal. 
• The AU defense did not make it an easy day for the Bison, causing 11 of their 16 turnovers. Jenna Walls, Juliet Kuenzler, and Izzy Masengarb all caused two, while Deirdre Brown, Rayah Johnson, Caroline McBride, and Frank caused one each. Brown added three ground balls, giving her 12 on the year.  
• Forti made nine saves on the day, including three that helped keep the Eagles in the game in the fourth quarter. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• AU won the opening draw control through Spratt, and took the lead on their first trip into the attacking end. Murdoch finished off a patient possession that lasted just over a minute, finding space in front of goal after Linehan found her from the top of the 12-meter. 
• The Bison won three of the next four draw controls, and answered AU's early lead with four straight goals over the next three minutes. Two came from Allie Boyce, while Megan Krestinski and Taylor McClain both put one in. 
• Coach Teeters called a timeout at the 10:16 mark, and Hegarty and Frank netted back-to-back goals to stop the bleeding out of the break. Hegarty converted a free position try, and Frank one-touched a quality feed from Annabelle Jackson to cut the deficit to one at 4-3 with 7:38 remaining in the first. 
• Krestinski added her second goal with just over two minutes left to make the score 5-3, then Samantha Buonaccorsi drew a charge on Regan Sansiviero to erase a goal and keep AU down just two at the end of the frame. 
• The Bison opened the second quarter with goals from Alex Nesbitt and Caroline Sheridan, bringing the score to 7-3. The Eagles created scoring chances in the opening minutes, but couldn't convert before the Bison put in two. Murdoch hit the post on a shot, a free position chance for Spratt was waved off due to a false start, and then another shot from Spratt was saved by Colleen Kazanjian. 
• After Forti denied another goal for Sheridan on the defensive end, Frank scored on the ensuing possession. She followed the goal with a draw control win, then Jackson scored off a free position try to put AU back down just two at 7-5 with 4:44 left. 
• Bucknell continued to punch back at the Eagles, as Sheridan and Boyce scored just over a minute apart at the end of the quarter. American trailed 9-5 at the half. 
• After two more goals from Krestinski gave the Bison their largest lead of the game at 11-5, Apuzzo and Murdoch got into a rhythm. The two connected on back-to-back goals that were nearly identical, with Apuzzo feeding Murdoch in front of the crease from the goal-line extended area on the right side. The score held at 11-7 going into the fourth. 
• Hegarty scored four minutes into the final quarter, then Forti came up with three big saves to keep the Eagles within striking distance over the next six-and-a-half minutes. She made two stops on shots from Krestinski from inside the eight-meter, and got her stick to a point-blank look from Boyce. 
• Apuzzo found Murdoch one more time at the 4:46 mark, as AU's leading goal scorer whipped her shot past Kazanjian to the top of the cage to cut the defecit to two.
• The Eagles had the ball with 1:54 remaining, but a turnover forced by Bucknell's Katie Wolin was the final blow. The Bison held onto the ball until a shot clock violation was called with just 22 seconds remaining, sealing the 11-9 win. 

UP NEXT

AU returns home next Saturday, April 19 to face Boston in the penultimate game of the regular season. It's Senior Day, as the program will honor its 12 seniors in their final game at the Jacobs Complex.