NEWBERRY – The Newberry College women’s lacrosse team fell to the visiting Tampa University Spartans on Sunday afternoon, 17-7.

Newberry (0-3, 0-1) started the game on a positive note as they opened the game with four goals in the first ten minutes to jump out to a 4-0 lead. That was followed by a 46-minute dry spell that allowed Tampa University (1-3, 0-1) to score 12 unanswered goals and take the lead for the good.

The Wolves had three players score two goals in Savannah Ohliger (Grantville, Ga.), Ajahna Grosvenor (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Jessica Baxtrom (St. Leonard, Md.) all hit that mark. Ohliger and Grosvenor also recorded an assist. Victoria Thomas (Manhattan, Kan.) scored the other goal for Newberry and had an assist.

Ohliger opened the scoring just 5:15 into the game as she got the tally unassisted. Grosvenor then scored two goals in a two-minute span before Ohliger again got on the board for Newberry’s early jump out in front. Despite going down early, Tampa responded with three goals in less than two minutes to bring it back to 4-3.

The Spartans would hold Newberry scoreless through the rest of the first half and take a 9-4 lead into the break. Tampa would continue to build on that run of scoring well into the second half as they tossed in three goals more before Newberry got on the board again. Newberry finally scored again with 13:41 left to pull within 12-5 but the seven goal difference was as close as they would get.

Tampa gained a lot of extra possessions as they held a 22-4 advantage in draw controls and outshot Newberry 45-22. Newberry goalkeeper Morgan Raffaele (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) made 17 saves in the contest. Newberry turned the ball over 25 times while Tampa turned it over 20 times.

Grosvenor had four shots in the game to go along with three ground balls. Thomas caused three turnovers and scooped up five ground balls while shooting the ball four times. Baxtrom had a team-high five shots.

After playing two games in as many days, Newberry will get a short break as they don’t take the field again until February 28 when they travel to Catawba. That game will start at 1 p.m. and will be the first of two road games they will play in a week span.