e Liberty women's lacrosse team came up just short against Richmond on Saturday, falling 10-9 to the Spiders at the Liberty Lacrosse Field. Liberty drew within one, trailing 10-9 with just over five minutes left follow a goal from Brianna McCaffrey. However, Spiders goalkeeper Megan Gianforte made two saves over the final 2:35, and Richmond forced a Liberty turnover with under 30 seconds to preserve the victory. The Lady Flames (4-2) see a two-game winning streak snapped. Richmond, the preseason A10 favorite, improves to 3-1 and has now won two straight. Scoring Summary Liberty Goals: Carly White 2, Mia Toscano 2, Jenna Joyal 2, Hannah Quast 2, Brianna McCaffrey 1 Liberty Assists: Leah Ruby 2, Carly White 2, Mia Toscano 1 Richmond Goals: Katie Sciandra 3, Mia Castagnero 2, Jillian Becker 2, Sam Geiersbach 1, Madison Ostrick 1, Lauren Kingsbury 1 Richmond Assists: Marissa Brown 1, Mia Castagnero 1, Katie Sciandra 1 Goalkeepers W: Megan Gianforte 3-1, 14 saves L: Katherine Widrick 4-2, 5 saves Thoughts From Head Coach Kelly Nangle "Today was a tough one. Our offense created a lot of opportunities to put this one away, but we couldn't finish. We have to put some work in and get better, but I'm proud of how our girls fought and kept up the pressure and battled with a very good Richmond team. We learned a lot today and got better, which is the most important piece at this point of the season. We have to do this week to prepare for a midweek game with a hot ECU team." Turning Point Richmond never trailed in the contest and held a 10-6 lead following a goal from Madison Osterick with 17:05 left. The Lady Flames scored three times down the stretch, with two goals coming on eight-meter shots (White and Hannah Quast). Following McCaffrey's goal, the Lady Flames found themselves down 10-9 with under two minutes left and Richmond possessing the ball. After McCaffrey forced a turnover with 41 seconds left, Liberty attempted to clear the ball out of its half of the field. During the clear, the Spiders' Julia Shmuckler generated a caused turnover, giving Richmond the ball back with less than 30 seconds left. Richmond maintained possession, running out the clock for the win. First Half Summary Liberty fell behind 5-0 in the first 13 minutes of the contest. Three of those five Richmond goals were in man-up situations due to three yellow cards from Lady Flames players. The Lady Flames scored five times in a row to even the match at 5-5. During the Lady Flames' 5-0 spurt, Jenna Joyal and Mia Toscano each scored twice. Carly White also added a goal and two assists during the run. Freshman Leah Ruby had two assists as well in the first half, recording two assists in a game for the first time in her career. Toscano's goal evened the contest at 5-5 with 3:18 remaining. Richmond's Katie Sciandra scored her second of three goals on the day with 33 seconds left to give the Spiders a 6-5 edge at the half. Despite trailing by a goal at the break, Liberty owned the edge in several statistical categories, including: shots (20-10) ground balls (11-4) and caused turnovers (10-7). The biggest advantage came in the draw circle, with the Lady Flames winning 10 draws, compared to two for the Spiders. Freshman Hope Flack led all players with four draw controls in the first 30 minutes. Second Half Summary Much like it did in the opening half, Richmond started strong in the second stanza. The Spiders scored twice in a 27-second span, with Mia Castagnero's free-position tally making it 8-5 with 21:31 remaining. Liberty's closing 3-0 run featured a pair of man-up goals, following Ostrick's yellow card with 6:06 left. Richmond committed three yellow cards in the second half and four in the game. Richmond's Gianforte made eight of her 14 saves over the course of the final 30 minutes. Liberty was 2-of-8 on free-position shots in the second half and just 2-of-10 (20 percent) for the game. Richmond was 2-of-7 in the second half and 3-of-11 (.272) for the game. Key Stats & Notes Liberty outshot Richmond 37-23 on the day and held edges in ground balls (28-16), draw controls (15-6) and caused turnovers (18-13). The Lady Flames (18-of-22, 81.8 percent) also found more success on the clear than Richmond (20-of-30, 66.7 percent). Junior Carly White had two goals, two assists, six draw controls, five ground balls and two caused turnovers on the day. She leads Liberty with 19 points (12 g, 7 a) in 2019. The Lady Flames entered the game second in the nation in caused turnovers per game (15.6) and had 18 more today. Six Liberty tallied two or more in the game, led by a career-high three from sophomore attacker Anna Keebler. This is the third time in program history Liberty has started the year by winning four of its first six games (also 2013 and 2018). Richmond is now 6-0 in the all-time series. Today's setback marked the closest margin of defeat (one) the Lady Flames have endured to the Spiders. Up Next The Lady Flames will return to their home field for a game on Wednesday against East Carolina (4-1). First draw is set for 4 p.m. at the Liberty Lacrosse Field. Liberty is 1-0 all-time against East Carolina, which is in its second year at the Division I level. In 2018, the Lady Flames won 15-5 at ECU.