ASHLAND, Va – Freshmen Carli Bafford and Caroline Fletcher tallied four goals each, but the Bridgewater women's lacrosse team fell 14-13 to Randolph-Macon in a close Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) match-up.

Randolph-Macon jumped out to an early 4-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the game. With 19:17 remaining in the first frame, Katie Freeman cut off the run with a goal off a Paige Hennessy pass to put the Eagles on the board.

Jenelle Whitman for the Yellow Jackets matched it to give Randolph-Macon its four goal lead back, making the score 5-1 with 18:31 on the clock.

Bafford fired her first shot into the back of the net before Whitman notched another to give the Yellow Jackets a 6-2 lead.

The game was scoreless over the next seven minutes until Fletcher ended the drought with a free position goal on a man-up opportunity with 9:27 left in the first frame, making the score 6-3.

Whitman yet again scored another to boost the Randolph-Macon lead to 7-3, but Hennessy tallied her only goal of the game off a Taylor Chamberlain helper with 5:18 on the clock trim the lead back to three goals. 

The Yellow Jackets responded with another tally, followed by a free position goal from Fletcher to cut the lead to 8-5.

With 22 seconds remaining in the first half, Freeman netted a free position shot to make the score 8-6 before heading into halftime.

The second half proved to be a back-and-forth battle between the teams as the Eagles tried to gain a lead, with a majority of goals from both teams being from the free position arc.

Fletcher came out of the break and snuck a shot past the goalkeeper with 26:47 on the clock to put the Eagles down by only one, 8-7.

The Yellow Jackets responded with a Rachel Johnson goal, but Fletcher notched another free position goal to cut the lead to 9-8 with 22:56 left in the second half.

Randolph-Macon matched that free position goal with one of its own, followed by a free position shot fired into the back of the net by Bafford with 19:51 remaining in the game, making the score 10-9.

Emily Lynch notched a goal for the Yellow Jackets with 17:20 on the clock. Freshman Alexa Miller matched that with her own free position tally to put the score at 11-10.

Randolph-Macon scored back-to-back goals before Bafford cut off the run with 8:11 on the clock to bring the lead to 13-11. Shannon Jamieson netted the last goal for the Yellow Jackets as the Eagles tried to go on a run to earn the win.

With 3:08 remaining in the second half, Freeman took a Hennessy helper and beat the keeper, followed by a Bafford free position goal with 2:23 on the clock to cut the lead down to 14-13.

With a minute left to go in the game, Randolph-Macon turned the ball over at the midfield, giving Bridgewater an opportunity to take advantage of, but the Eagles turned it over on the fast break in its offensive zone. Randolph-Macon was able to burn off the remainder of the time in the second half to finalize the win for the Yellow Jackets, 14-13.

In the cage, Laura Reynolds turned away 12 shots on the afternoon, while Nicole Woodworth had 13 saves. Both teams recorded 26 shots in the game.

For the Eagles, Bafford and Fletcher both contributed four goals and Freeman added three. Hennessy dished out two assists during the contest.

For the Yellow Jackets, the offense was led by three players with three-goal games while Betsy Hebert dished out two helpers.

Randolph-Macon out earned Bridgewater 16-13 in draw controls. 

Bridgewater is back in action on Wednesday as it travels to Washington and Lee. Game time is set for 5 p.m.