LOUDONVILLE, NY – In a back-and-forth affair, Siena Women's Lacrosse lost its halftime lead before its comeback attempt fell just short 11-9 to UMass Lowell in the Saints' first home game played at Hickey Field on a Saturday afternoon filled with snow flurries and a dramatic drop in temperature.   

The decisive third quarter saw the Riverhawks outscore the Saints 6-1 to carry a 10-6 advantage heading into the final frame.

Siena (0-4) rallied back on a spinning move goal by Merrimack transfer Samantha Spieler and a pair of scores from Kelly Logue.

The Saints had an opportune moment when after one of those goals from Logue made it 10-8, it went on a two-player up advantage on yellow cards charged to UMass Lowell's Chloe Bowers for a dangerous play and another from Awa Dembele on a check to the head of Grace Dobrzynski within a minute of one another at 7:24 remaining in the game.

However, Siena came up empty on their chance and the score remained unchanged when the Riverhawks' Grace Lydon caused a turnover and picked up a critical ground ball to help UML (5-1) run out the clock on the penalties. 

With 2:04 left, Audra Hansen put it through the back of the net to push the lead back up to three goals.

Logue answered on a woman-up advantage with 20 seconds left to conclude the scoring. 

Logue finished with a second consecutive hat trick while seven different Saints scored in the game.

Cassidy Bonura led the Saints with a career-best seven draw controls and added two ground balls and caused a turnover. 

While there was a precipitous drop in temperature of about 15 degrees from the late morning to start of the game, the defensive intensity turned up from each team to the tune of a combined 36 turnovers. 

Each team had 17 shots on goals while UML converted on all three of its free position shot attempts while Siena made good on 2-of-6. 

Siena will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Vermont on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

The game can be watched on ESPN+.