SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's lacrosse team scored the final five goals of the game to outscore SUNY Geneseo 5-2 in the decisive fourth quarter and pull out a 12-8 victory in the team's 2025 home opener on a blustery Saturday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
 
Sophomore Hannah Compa led all players with four goals and five points for Union (2-0), but the team received contributions from many players on both ends of the field in the win. Junior Lana Mickelson had two goals and two assists, and junior Maddie Doyle chipped in two goals and a helper to go with four ground balls and four draw controls.
 
Defensively, first-year Stella Del Papa recorded a game-high five ground balls while the trio of junior Sammy Johnson, sophomore Anna Dembowski and first-year Kate Loughney combined for eight ground balls and seven caused turnovers, as the home team forced 11 of Geneseo's 19 miscues.
 
The visitors opened the scoring with the first two goals, but tallies from sophomore Gillian Joseph and Mickelson evened the score less than four minutes into the contest. The teams traded player-up goals later in the frame to knot the score at three after one quarter.
 
The home team scored the final two goals of a low-scoring second stanza to take a 5-4 lead into the break on a player-up goal by Compa and a player-down goal from Del Papa. The Garnet Chargers outshot the Knights by a 19-7 margin over the first 30 minutes, which featured 14 cards as part of a choppy two quarters.
 
Union took back the lead in the third quarter thanks to tallies by Compa and junior Christina Guanci, but Geneseo scored the final goal of the third and then added the first two of the fourth to take an 8-7 advantage with 9:41 left.
 
It was all Union after that, however, as the Garnet Chargers stormed back to finish off the win. Doyle scored from the eight-meter arc less than a minute after the final Geneseo goal to knot the score, and junior Sydney Widlitz made a pair of huge saves on the next possession to keep the game tied and get the ball back, eventually resulting in Compa's third of the game from the eight-meter arc to put the home team back ahead. Widlitz made another huge save on a free-position attempt with 5:20 left to keep Union in front, and the home team took nearly three minutes off the clock on the next possession before Compa deposited her fourth to make the score 10-8 with 2:23 remaining. Goals by Mickelson and senior Greta Maurer in the final 90 seconds sealed the win.
 
Union dominated for large parts of the game and outshot Geneseo by a 41-16 margin, but Knights netminder Emily DeJohn made 18 saves to keep her team in the game. Widlitz was not challenged often on the day but still finished with five saves, including the three huge stops in the fourth quarter.
 
The Garnet Chargers will return to action on Tuesday with a 4 p.m. matchup against SUNY Brockport at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.