The Army West Point women's lacrosse team fell to Holy Cross on the road, 11-10, after the Crusaders scored with 3.7 seconds remaining in regulation Wednesday evening at Kuzniewski Field. It was a dog fight throughout the entire 60 minutes with neither team earning more than a two-point edge the entire game. Additionally, there were seven tied scores and four lead changes throughout the matchup. The home team opened the scoring 44 seconds into the contest to prevent the Black Knights from netting the first goal for just the third time this season. The Black Knights countered with a goal of their own less than three minutes later when rookie Jackie Brattan took the feed from senior Rachel Hornick and buried it into the back of the cage. After Holy Cross extended its lead to 3-1 after a pair of goals in 2:11, the two sides were in a six-and-a-half-minute defensive struggle before the Cadets broke through with a 5-1 run that resulted in their first lead of the contest. First-year Cameron Manor broke the scoring hiatus when she camped out at the back post and beat the Crusader goalie off a pass from Maddie Miller. Manor's tally sparked a short 3-0 run for the Cadets, who got right back on the board 46 ticks later as Miller dished the ball from behind the cage to a cutting Rilee Scott in the alley to knot things up once more. The Black Knights took the lead with 9:33 remaining in the first half when another rookie, Megan Raftery, drove through the Holy Cross defense and ripped a shot past the net minder. The Crusaders retied the game two minutes later, but Brattan was not going to be denied on the offensive end. The Garden City, N.Y., native first cut down the alley and uncorked a shot into the cage before earning a hat trick 45 seconds later. Her second goal came off a dish from her classmate Mikayla Bergin into the slot where Brattan finished the play to give Army a two-goal edge with 4:39 remaining in the first half. Holy Cross capitalized on a man-up opportunity as time wound down as Molly Pfaff scored with 4.6 seconds on the clock to send her team into the locker room down by one, 6-5. It used this momentum after the break as the Crusaders scored the first goal of the final stanza to once again tie the game. They recaptured the lead after another lengthy scoring drought, this time for a span of 7:26. Another Army response came within the next minute, however, as senior Amy Johnston worked her way open in front of the cage and put the pass from Manor into the twine to even the game at 7-all. Manor handed the visitors the lead once more when she scooped up a rebound off a Manuela Cortes shot and fired it into the open net on the man-advantage. Johnston capped Army's second 3-0 run of the evening with another man-up tally that was nearly identical goal to her first with the only major difference being the assist going to Scott. Army once again led by two, 9-7. That advantage quickly morphed into a deficit, however, as Holy Cross scored three goals in the span of 1:05, thanks to a pair of free position tallies. The other goal tied the game at 9-9 when the Crusaders won the draw and bolted down the field in 13 seconds. The home side quickly turned the tides and seemed to be in control with 8:21 on the clock. Needing some offense late, Johnston earned a free position attempt for the Black Knights with under two minutes to play, dodged around the goalie and potted her third of the game. Her hat trick also served as the equalizer. Juliana Dworschak out-muscled her opposition and collected the key draw control, allowing a timeout to come from the sideline so they could set up their offense. Coming out of the timeout, however, Audrey Mandaro stripped the ball along the sideline and picked up the ground ball. Timeout No. 1 for Holy Cross. With 55 seconds remaining and the entire field to go, the Crusaders put the ball in the stick of one of their speedsters and cleared the ball without a pass in 16 seconds to flip the pitch. Timeout No. 2 for Holy Cross. The home side worked the ball around the offensive zone before netting the game-winner with 3.6 seconds left. ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES Army dropped to 1-2 when allowing the first goal of the game this season. The Black Knights were perfect in their clear attempts (17-for-17) for the second time this season after going 16-for-16 against VCU. Johnston, Brattan and Manor all tied for the game high in points with three each. Miller and Hornick tied for the most helpers in the game with two. Brattan collected her second hat trick of the season. Johnston notched her second-straight hat trick and third of the season. It was the Salt Lake City, Utah, native's 11th career three-goal game. She also tied her season-high with eight draw controls in the contest. Manor posted a season-high three points with her second multi-goal effort. The Laguna Hills, Calif., native earned a goal and an assist for the second time this year. WHAT'S THE WORD? Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach Shannon Gilroy – "I think the team fought really hard until the very end tonight. We had our moments of greatness, but unfortunately made some critical mistakes that put us in a bad situation. Moving forward, I think we need to work on capitalizing on our shots. We need to do a better job of taking that extra second to place the ball around the goalie in order to be on the winning end of tight games like this. We had our chances but just couldn't finish. When it comes to composure, I think our team can do a better job of handling their emotions and nerves. That will lead to limiting our turnovers and just have more overall confidence in ourselves to finish plays. This is definitely a huge learning opportunity for the girls to get better from, and we will work to correct our mistakes for this weekend's game against a good Lehigh squad." Fr. Attacker Jackie Brattan – "I think the plebes' success starts with our upperclassmen. They're able to feed us the ball when we're open and that type of vision only comes from experience. It's on us to finish the shot, but they're always looking to find us. I think knowing that we're clicking this early is definitely going to help us throughout the rest of the season because we know each other's strengths and we can feed off that to become a stronger unit." Sr. attacker Amy Johnston – "Coming of a Patriot League win so early in the season, we were not as mentally prepared as we should have been coming into this game. Throughout it, we were plagued with easily avoidable mistakes that ended our momentum and cost us the lead. As we turn to Lehigh, we will take this loss to heart but continue to grow from these mistakes. We will start fresh at practice tomorrow and work on ourselves. Unfortunately, we needed this to light a fire under us and keep us competing at the level we need to in order to win in this league. Lehigh is an opportunity for the team to play consistently well instead of occasionally great." UP NEXT The Black Knights return to Michie Stadium on Saturday as they welcome Lehigh for the tail end of an Army lacrosse doubleheader at 3 p.m