BOSTON - Paced by a second-half hat trick from junior Elle Stevenson, the Boston University women's lacrosse earned a 10-8 home victory over Bucknell on Saturday afternoon at Nickerson Field.

Trailing 6-5 with under five minutes left in the third quarter, the Terriers reeled off five straight goals, including a go-ahead tally by senior Hannah Tillier, to take a 10-6 lead before holding off the visitors down the stretch.

BU improves to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in Patriot League play while Bucknell falls to 4-4 with an 0-1 conference mark.

Sophomore Natalie Aiosa earned the win in goal with a nine-save performance. Sophomore Izabella Amonte and junior Jayne Feeney had two goals apiece while junior Leah Hodgins tallied a goal and two assists. Tillier added an assist for a two-point day while graduate student Kendall Sims and senior Avery Jones earned two assists apiece.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Feeney opened the contest with a free position tally 57 seconds after the opening draw.
• Bucknell scored the next two goals via Megan Krestinski and Caroline Sheridan, but they occurred nearly 11 minutes apart to help BU trail by just one, 2-1, heading into the second quarter.
• At the 11:38 mark in the frame, Hodgins collected a ground ball off a previous Terrier shot and found Amonte for the equalizer, making it 2-2.
• Nesbitt found the back of the net twice in 58 seconds to help the Bison regain a two-goal lead before Hodgins beat goalkeeper Colleen Kazanjian with a high-to-low blast to bring BU within 4-3 with 8:16 until halftime.
• Kat Reynolds and Feeney traded 50 seconds apart with under three minutes on the timer to give Bucknell the 5-4 edge at the half.
• Two-and-a-half-minutes into the third quarter, Jones collected a ground ball after Sheridan's turnover and went end-to-end before dishing off to Stevenson, who tied the contest at 5-5 with a goal that tucked into the upper-left corner of the net.
• Bucknell briefly took a 6-5 lead thanks to Katie Browne, but Jones came away with the ensuing draw control after 10 players fought for possession and found freshman Alex Kucharz alone for the equalizer 18 seconds later.
• The Terriers ignited the fourth quarter when Sims linked with Tillier, who skied for the pass and zipped a shot past Kazanjian to hand BU a 7-6 advantage with 9:37 left in regulation.
• Sims again generated a chance by finding Stevenson for the goal, building an 8-6 lead.
• Amonte buried a free position goal at the top of the 8-meter arc, then Stevenson secured the second-half hat trick 54 seconds later for BU's fourth straight goal to make it 10-6 with 5:38 to play.
• Krestinski scored twice and Browne won a draw control to give the Bison the ball with under 1:45 to go, but Aiosa denied Allie Boyce's low-angle opportunity with 77 seconds on the clock to seal the result.

GAME NOTES

• BU held a 25-22 edge in shots including a 19-17 advantage in shots on goal.
• Each team collected 19 ground balls.
• BU won 12 of the game's 22 draws with freshman Kaitlyn Barton (5) and sophomore Tessa Geddes (4) combining for nine.
• The Terriers were 19-of-23 on clears while Bucknell was 23-of-24.
• Kazanjian made nine saves in goal for the Bison.
• BU was 2-for-6 on free-position shots and did not allow any on the defensive end.

UP NEXT

• BU will return to action next Saturday, March 22 when it visits Lafayette.
• Game time in Easton is set for noon.