FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist women's lacrosse team dropped a tight 10-9 contest to Piedmont on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lions (6-3, 1-0 USA South) overcame an 8-6 deficit with 14:13 to play by scoring four of the final five goals of the contest, including the game winner with 1:25 to play.
 
Sareena Coleman and Madison Ronelli staked the Monarchs (3-4, 0-1 USA South) to a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. The Lions responded with three goals for a 3-2 lead at the 22:40 mark.
 
The Monarchs responded with consecutive goals to regain the lead, 4-3, with 16:39 left in the first half, but the back-and-forth battle continued as Piedmont scored twice more before Bianca Terenzi capped the scoring in the first half and put the score at 5-5.
 
Ronelli and Emily Creasy scored to give MU a 7-5 lead just over 10 minutes into the second period. The two teams traded goals for an 8-6 game before Piedmont's run over the final minutes.
 
Methodist was able to keep the game close despite being outshot 27-19 and winning just seven of 21 draw controls. The Monarchs were 13-of-18 on clears, while the Lions were successful on 14 of their 18 attempts.
 
Ronelli and Kaelyn Holland led MU with two goals apiece. Ronelli added one assist, four ground balls, two caused turnovers and three draw controls. Haley Peters, Terenzi and Sareena Coleman had three ground balls each, and Emily Creasy had two caused turnovers. Emily Ewin started and played 23:06 in goal and allowed five goals. Janelle Gant played the final 36:54 and made five saves with five goals allowed.
 
Caitlin O'Brien paced the Lions with four goals and an assist to go with seven draw controls, and Kayla Freund chipped in three goals. Blake Forrest played all 60:00 in the cage and made four saves to earn the win.     
 
Methodist is back in action on Sunday when it hosts Ferrum at 1:00 pm.