PITTSBURGH, Pa. – La Roche women's lacrosse returned to the field to face Spalding and fell just short, 11-8.

The Eagles opened the scoring 1:10 into the first quarter, taking the early 1-0 lead.

The Redhawks would respond with 11:46 remaining, as Jade Fuccaro found the back of the net, assisted by Isabella Fittipaldo.

Just 4:41 later, Fuccaro found the back of the net again, this time unassisted to give La Roche a 2-1 lead, one it would hold going into the second quarter.

Spalding wasted no time tying the game, scoring just 48 seconds into the second to make it 2-2, but the Redhawks had an answer exactly three minutes later, regaining the lead on a goal by Kayla Mull.

The Eagles took less than two minutes to tie the game again, scoring at the 9:30 remaining mark, making it 3-3 and then overtook the lead at the 7:43 mark at 4-3.

The deficit grew just 1:43 later as Spalding made it 5-3, but La Roche had an answer this time, scoring at 6:40 as Tea Smith found the back of the net unassisted to make it 5-4.

Spalding closed the first half scoring with 2:23 remaining and took a 6-4 lead into the break.

The Eagles once again opened the scoring in quarter three, jumping ahead 7-4 at the 12:56 mark.

The Redhawks found a rhythm, scoring a pair of goals in a 42 second span.

At 10:59, Fuccaro scored her third of the game unassisted, then a player up, Smith scored her second of the game, assisted by Fuccaro at 10:17.

Spalding would score the final three goals of the quarter in the final 6:54 to take a 10-6 lead into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was quiet for nearly 10 minutes, until La Roche found the back of the net when Kiki Nemchek scored a player up, free position at 5:18 to make it 10-7.

However, the Eagles would respond scoring at 4:54 to up the lead back to four at 11-7.

The final goal was scored by the Redhawks, as Nemchek netted her second of the game with 51 seconds remaining, assisted by Fittipaldo.

Offensively, La Roche had 20 shots in the game, 15 of which were on target.

Fittipaldo had a team-high six shots in the game, while her and Nemchek matched the team-high of four shots on goal.

In goal, Julianna Hornikel made 19 saves, facing 30 shots in the game, while matching a team-high two ground balls.

The Redhawks return to the field on Thursday, Mar. 21 when they host Grove City. Opening faceoff is set for 3:30 p.m.