John Carroll women's lacrosse kicked off its season at home on Saturday afternoon in search of a victory against the Ladies of Kenyon College. Despite trailing by as many as seven goals, John Carroll rallied late but fell to Kenyon College 22-20.

The 42 combined goals are the most scored in a JCU women's lacrosse game in program history.

Kenyon scored four unanswered goals to start the game. Despite a John Carroll timeout in an effort to regroup after the first three goals, Kenyon added their fourth point to the board with 22:16 remaining in the first half. With 20:24 remaining in the half, Kenyon turned the ball over to the Blue Streaks, who capitalized on the opportunity when Colleen Grombala found the back of the net on a free position shot to put John Carroll on the board, 4-1.  

Kenyon quickly answered with back-to-back goals, putting them back up by five over the Blue Streaks with 18:59 remaining. John Carroll would not back down despite Kenyon's lead. With 18:16 remaining, Alex Heishman scored a goal, assisted by Grombala, to cut the Blue Streak's deficit to four. Once again, Kenyon responded with two goals to give them an 8-2 advantage over the Blue Streaks with just over 15 minutes to play. 

With 13:18 remaining, Grombala scored her second free position goal of the match, making the score 8-3. Shortly after, Lainey Donalson decreased the Blue Streaks' deficit to four on a goal from Olivia Gerlach. With 9:41 remaining, Kendall Gessner netted a goal from Jill Jarem, making the score 8-5. Kenyon responded, adding a point to the board, but less than a minute later Grombala tallied another goal for the Blue Streaks, putting them behind Kenyon 9-6 with 8:34 remaining. 

Once again, the Ladies of Kenyon College responded with a goal of their own, giving them a 10-6 advantage with 7:18 remaining in the first half of play. With 6:22 remaining, Carly Ross scored her first goal of the season. Seconds later, Ross tallied her second of the season on a free position goal to put the Blue Streaks behind by two with 4:16 to play before the break. With 22 seconds remaining before half time Kenyon netted a goal, making the score 11-9 at the break.

Despite John Carroll's fight to come back at the end of the first half, Kenyon tallied four goals in the first four and a half minutes of the second half, giving them a 14-9 advantage over John Carroll with 26:08 left in regulation. With 25:50 remaining, Heishman scored her second free position goal of the match, and seconds later she scored her third, putting the Blue Streaks behind the Ladies 15-11 with 24:28 remaining. 

Kenyon responded with a goal of their own, putting them back up by five over John Carroll. Jenna Ginsberg scored a free position shot for John Carroll with 21:26 remaining, leaving the Blue Streaks trailing by four. Kenyon once again responded with a goal. Shortly after, John Carroll scored on a free position shot from Gessner with just over 19 minutes to play. 

Between the 16th and 18th minutes of the second half, Kenyon tallied three goals, making the score 20-13 with 11:53 remaining in regulation. With 11:06 remaining, Heishman netted a goal on a free position shot, which was followed by another free position shot from Grombala to shrink the Blue Streak's deficit to five. With 8:58 remaining, Kenyon scored a free position shot of their own.
 
With 8:36 remaining, Olivia Gerlach scored her first goal of the season with assistance from Ginsberg. Grombala quickly followed scoring back-to-back goals, leaving the Blue Streaks trailing the Ladies 21-18 with 6:27 remaining. With 5:04 remaining John Carroll's Mary Doherty scored her first goal of the season, making it a two point game. As time ticked down, Grombala once again found the back of the net on her eighth goal of the game, putting John Carroll behind Kenyon 21-20 with 4:06 remaining. 

The Blue Streaks had a possession to tie after winning the draw, but a turnover thwarted that attempt.

Kenyon's Julia Losey fired back with her fifth goal of the match, giving the Ladies a two point advantage over the Blue Streaks with 3:13 left to play. Ross took a free position shot that was a bit too wide with 55 seconds remaining. In their final chance to score with 12 seconds remaining, Gerlach's free position shot was a bit too high. 

Today's loss was the first to open a season since the program began in 2015.

JCU outshot Kenyon, 38-32, but Kenyon had 17 ground balls to John Carroll's 11.  In draw controls, John Carroll held a 25-19 edge.

Carroll led the Blue Streaks with four ground balls, and shared the team lead with Workman and Shannon Burdick with two caused turnovers.

Gromabala's eight goals tied her personal best set last year against Ohio Northern. It was also one shy of the program's single game record.

The Blue Streaks look to bounce back at Wittenberg on Wednesday.