DANVILLE, Va. — The Averett University women's lacrosse team dropped a close 10-8 battle to Pfeiffer University on Tuesday.

Through the first ten minutes of the game, both sides scored a goal with freshman Adriana Perez tallying her sixth of the year. In the 11th minute, freshman Courtney DeLone took a feed from freshman Hannah Mae Ayers and scored to give the Cougars their first lead of the game at 2-1. The Falcons, though, would tighten up their defense and begin to make things hard for Averett in their attacking third. This helped Pfeiffer take a 5-3 lead with 8:27 remaining in the first half.

At this point, head coach Kelly Ryan called a timeout to stop the Pfeiffer momentum. This stop in action seemed to be just what the Cougars needed as Averett scored three unanswered goals from Ayers, junior Abby Taylor and sophomore Elizabeth Peasley to take the 6-5 lead heading into the halftime break.

The Falcons would score a little over a minute into the second half to level the match at six. Neither team scored again until Pfeiffer struck the twine once again ten minutes later to regain the 7-6 edge. Peasley would tie the match at seven with 12:15 left in regulation before Pfeiffer scored two straight over the next 2:59 of game time to take the 9-7 lead.

Peasley stayed aggressive in the attack and it paid off as the Wilmington, North Carolina, native cut the Averett deficit to one in the 55th minute. Sophomore Gabbie Porter and senior Hailey Chandler nearly tied the game in the last five minutes, but unfortunately both of them had their attempts saved. The Falcons would get an insurance goal in the 58th minute to extend their lead to 10-8 which is what they needed to secure the victory.

Sophomore Breanne Sawall matched her season-high with 12 saves while Peasley recorded the hat-trick to give her 69 goals on the year. She is now just three shy of matching her career-high and the program record for most goals in a season with 72.

The Cougars travel to Greensboro College on Saturday to take on the Pride. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.