ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y – The Bard College women's lacrosse team could not overcome a slow start against the Union Garnet Chargers on Wednesday evening at Ferrari Field. The Raptors had a Morgan's Message dedication game which is a foundation to help combat mental health for student-athletes. 

Morgan Ruhle grabbed a career-high nine ground balls, which only five other players in program history have tallied and places her fifth all-time in ground balls in a single game. She also caused four turnovers. Keira Redmond played the final three quarters. Redmond tied her career-high 15 saves, which is tied for fifth for saves in a game and recorded five ground balls. 

Emerson Embrey scored three goals, had an assist, three ground balls, two draw controls, and two caused turnovers. Rian Sullivan led the team with four draw controls, adding a ground ball and a caused turnover. Izzi Popolizio had a goal, an assist, and five ground balls. Gwendolyn Jamison scored in the effort. 

Kayla Francis had a career-high two draw controls and also contributed with two ground balls and a caused turnover. Gwyn Downey had a pair of ground balls as well as two caused turnovers. Ella Perreault picked up three ground balls and caused one turnover. 

Union scored the first five goals of the game, but the Raptors had an answer with back-to-back goals from Embrey. In the second period, Bard collected more ground balls than Union, 11-10, and had five saves to Union's two, an improvement on the first period. At the 12:29 mark, Popolizio found Jamison for a power play goal. Later in the half, Embrey dished it to Popolizio for the Raptors' fourth goal. 

Defensively, Bard had better results after halftime, allowing just two goals in the third period. Embrey scored her team-leading 20th goal of the season with 5:26 remaining in the third. The fourth period saw Union scoring four more goals. 

The Raptors will be on the road for the next five games, with the St. Lawrence Saints kicking off the road trip at noon on Saturday.