ERIE, Pa. -- Notre Dame lost to the No. 9-ranked NCAA Division II squad on Saturday, as Gannon (Pa.) turned away the Falcons, 14-4. (Box)

Both Notre Dame (2-2) and Gannon (3-1) came into Saturday's game having won two of their first three games on the season. The afternoon tilt, played through rainy and chilly conditions, marked the 2010 home opener for the Golden Knights, who went 12-4 overall and 6-1 at home a year ago when they finished the season as the eighth-ranked team in NCAA-II Women's Lacrosse (Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Top-10 Poll).

NDC got the scoring underway Saturday when senior attacker #Jenn Morse# found the back of the net at 28:16. That goal marked Morse's 11th of the season, but the Falcons wouldn't score again until after the host Golden Knights had scored eight unanswered goals.

Five different Gannon players combined to score those eight goals, which fed into a 9-2 halftime lead for the Golden Knights. Gannon outshot NDC, 13-7, in the opening 30 minutes of play. Senior attacker Krista Schunk scored three in the first.

The second half was more of a defensive contest, with NDC unable to muster much of an offense and Gannon content to run the clock. Neither side scored until 21:08, when Taryn Millerd notched her third goal of the game to put the Golden Knights up, 10-2. More than seven more minutes would elapse before NDC would score its first goal of the second half, a Morse goal on a feed from #Katie Christensen#.

GU and NDC kept their nets clean between 13:10 and 4:56, with the beginning and end points of that stretch being goals by Gannon sophomore midfielder #Sarah Grzybinksi#. Her goal at 4:56 put the Golden Knights up by 10 (13-3). In the final five minute, NDC traded a #Briana Chestnut# goal for a Gannon score, and the Golden Knights prevailed by a margin of 10 goals, 14-4.

Gryzbinski, Millerd and Schunk each scored three goals for the game. Senior netminder Acacia Cook made 10 saves, going the distance in goal for the Golden Knights. #Ally Phillips# and #Marissa Lundgren# split the game in goal for Notre Dame; they made a combined five stops.

NDC outshot Gannon, 19-8, in the second period and 27-21 for the game. GU, however, put 19 shots on goal, to Notre Dame's 14. The Falcons had 23 turnovers to GU's 17. 

"We really played pretty well," said NDC Head Coach #Torrey McGowan#.  "We did a lot of things well, but gannon is a really good team, and it just seemed like we hit a lot of pipes and didn't have things go our way."

With the home-field victory, the No. 9 Golden Knights have now won three straight games.

Saturday's match marked the third meeting between Notre Dame and Gannon -- all three have been played in Erie, with the host Golden Knights emerging victorious each time.

Notre Dame will travel to Detroit for its next game; the Falcons are slated to take on the Titans of Detroit-Mercy on Wednesday, March 17. The 4 p.m. tilt against UDM will feature live stats.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

PENN.'D IN: Notre Dame is now 9-6 in 15 all-time games played in the state of Pennsylvania, with half of those six losses coming at the hands of the Golden Knights.

MOORE WORTH NOTING: Senior defender #Emily Moore# had seven ground balls in the game -- that's a single-game high for the Falcons this season. … Jenn Morse won 10 of 13 face-offs. The Brampton, Ontario, native scored two goals and has now found the back of the net a team-high 12 times this season.