Women's Lacrosse | 4/2/2025 6:45:00 PM

Box Score BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg lacrosse team battled until the final whistle but fell to #13 Kutztown, 18-10, Wednesday afternoon. The Huskies dropped to 6-5 and 2-4 in PSAC East play while the Golden Bears improved to 8-4 and 5-2 in conference play.
 
Kayla Stressman (Harleysville, Pa./North Penn) led the Huskies with three goals while Marykate Sitko (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) had two goals and two assists to go with a team-best four draw controls. She also picked up two ground balls. Emily Simpson (North Wales, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) had a goal and assists while Tori Bruno (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) had a pair of assists. Brianna Austin (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh), Samantha Keck (Denver, Pa./Cocalico), Payton Bettys (Palm, Pa./Upper Perkiomen), and Mia Boccippio (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) each had a goal for Bloomsburg.

Defensively, Reiley Knize (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) led Bloomsburg with two caused turnovers and three ground balls while Lauren Foley (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) picked up three ground balls and had a caused turnover. The senior made a career-best 21 saves for a .538 save percentage.
 
Sitko got the Huskies on the board first with her 30^th goal of the season just 2:05 into action. The Golden Bears responded with two-straight to take a 2-1 lead but Sitko tied the game at 2-2 with 6:09 to play with her second of the game. The sophomore won the next draw control and Simpson gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead at the 5:53 mark thanks to an assist from Bruno. The Golden Bears closed out the quarter with a pair of goals to take a 4-3 lead into the second quarter.
 
Kutztown rattled off three more goals to start the second to push its lead to 7-3 with 11:34 to play in the period. After timeout by head coach Shannon Hurtz, Alexis Guzylak (Corning, N.Y./Horseheads) won the next draw control. Boccippio took an initial shot that went high but the Huskies maintain possession. Boccippio got another chance and this time found the back of the net with 10:28 to play to cut the lead to 7-4. Kutztown answered with a free position goal just over a minute later to push the lead to 8-4.
 
With 7:04 to play in the quarter, Keck scored her first goal as a Husky off a pass from Bruno to kick off a three-goal run for Bloomsburg. Sophia Zelasko (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) won the next draw control and Stressman scored with 5:49 to play thanks to a pass from Maya Fulmer (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley). Sitko won the next draw and went start to cage. She flipped the ball to Stressman for her second of the game and to pull the Huskies within one, 8-7, with 5:31 to play. Sitko once again won the next draw and the Huskies offense took over. Emily Gauker (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) took a shot that went wide but she picked up her own ground ball out of the side of the net. Simpson put a shot on cage and thanks to a sweeping save that went right to the stick of Bettys who got it past the Golden Bear goalie to tie the game at 8-8 with 3:51 to play.
 
The Golden Bears broke the tie with 2:45 to go before halftime as Sam Graf scored her 49^th goal of the season and Lailah ElBouazzaoui gave Kuztown a 10-8 lead at halftime.
 
Kutztown scored three-straight to start the third quarter to take a 13-8 lead with 5:28 to play but Stressman's third of the game cut the lead back to 13-9 at the 2:27 mark. The Golden Bears pushed their lead to 17-9 with four more to start the fourth before Austin scored a woman-up goal at the 7:27 mark after a successful clear attempt. Olivia Eilbacher gave the Golden Bears an 18-10 lead with 2:47 to play with her 17^th of the year.
 
After a successful clear attempt by the Huskies with 1:42 to play, Sitko put the final Bloomsburg shot on cage but Marisa Bragg made the save to keep the score 18-10. Kutztown took the final shot of the game but went wide as the Golden Bears hung on for the 18-10 win.
 
Kutztown out-shot the Huskies 52-19 and won the ground battle 26-19. The Golden Bears held a slight 16-14 advantage in draw controls. Kutztown was 21-for-23 on clears while the Huskies finished the day 14-for-24.
 
Bloomsburg returns to action against #1 West Chester University on Saturday, April 5 on the road for a 1:00 p.m. contest.