A late rally by the Hope College women's lacrosse team fell just short Saturday afternoon at Van Andel Soccer Stadium, as the Flying Dutch fell, 9-8, to the University of Mount Union (Ohio).

The game was a matchup of two preseason conference favorites: Mount Union in the Ohio Athletic Conference and Hope in the MIAA.

The loss dropped the Flying Dutch to 2-2 on the season, while the Purple Raiders improved to 4-2.

After a defensive struggle in the first half that saw only five goals scored – Hope trailed 3-2 at halftime – Mount Union seized control of the game in the third quarter. The Purple Raiders ran off four unanswered goals to take a 7-2 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the period.

The Flying Dutch battled back, getting a pair of goals in the final 62 seconds of the third quarter. Junior midfielder Caleigh Randall (Lansing, Michigan / DeWitt HS) scored an unassisted tally, then with Hope a player up due to a Mount Union penalty, junior midfielder Stella Bottum (Alto, Michigan / Caledonia) found the net to cut the Purple Raiders' lead to 7-4.

Mount Union extended its lead to 9-5 with six-and-a-half minutes remaining, but Hope had one final run. Senior attacker Julia Brown (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Central) scored while Hope was a player up with 5:07 remaining, her third goal of the game, assisted by senior attacker Kerrigan Brown (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt).

Then in a span of 20 seconds in the game's final moments, Hope struck twice to cut the Mount Union lead to one.  Bottum took a feed from Kerrigan Brown and scored her third goal of the game with 1:05 remaining. Then Julia Brown scored her fourth goal of the game and 15th of the season, an unassisted tally with 45 seconds to play, to pull Hope within 9-8.

However, the Purple Raiders won the ensuing draw control and ran the clock out. 

Julia Brown scored four goals to lead the Flying Dutch, while Bottum added three. Kerrigan Brown had three assists.

Junior midfielder Sydney LaPrairie (Rochester, Michigan / Stoney Creek) scooped up five ground balls and senior defender Mia Skibins (Granger, Indiana / Mishawaka Penn) caused four turnovers. 

Junior goalkeeper Samantha Smith (Westfield, Indiana/Westfield) made eight saves.

The Flying Dutch return to action on Friday, March 14, at 4 p.m. at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.