The Canisius College women's lacrosse team fell to 9-4 to No. 13 Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday after falling behind 5-0 to start the contest.

“I thought we made a number of uncharacteristic mistakes at the start of the game,” said head coach Scott Teeter. “We raised the level of our play in the second half and started making two-point plays, but credit to Penn. I think they have one of the best goaltenders in the NCAA and they played well today.”

The Griffs' would use a pair of goals by junior attacker Meghan Cuddy to pull within three, one of which was assisted by sophomore attacker Caroline Ogden. However, the Quakers answered right back with a pair of goals of their own to maintain the five-goal lead in heading into the half at 7-2.

Coming out of the break, the Blue and Gold would strike first as senior midfielder Maria Kotas would beat her defender at the eight-meter mark and beat Penn goaltender Lucy Ferguson.

Kotas' goal would give her 80 points on the season, which is a new program record, breaking junior attacker Tori Quinn's record of 79 from last season.

After another Quakers goal, Kotas would cut the lead back to four again on a quick feed from Quinn from behind the net.

Penn's Tory Benson would tack on another – her game-high fourth goal – to make the final result 9-4.

Junior goaltender Kayla Scully made five saves in the contest.

GAME NOTES: The four goals are the fewest goals scored in a game by Canisius since a 13-3 loss to Louisville on Feb. 10, 2013… Kotas' 81 points are the most in a season in program history. She'll finish her career tied for second in program history with 200 career points… The loss drops Canisius to 0-4 in NCAA Tournament play… The nine goals are the fewest allowed in Canisius' four NCAA Tournament appearances.