SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The California lacrosse team was unable to recover from an early three-goal deficit and fell 9-6 at Le Moyne in its first road game of the season Thursday. The Dolphins (1-0) scored the first three goals and Cal (1-1) never led. The Golden Bears did cut Le Moyne's advantage to a single goal twice in the first half and got within 8-6 after goals from Kennedy Mason with five seconds to go in the third period and Kate Rothman with 12:05 remaining in the fourth before being held scoreless the rest of the way.

Mason and Courtney Wong each had a pair of goals for Cal, while Rothman and Addie Fischer tallied once apiece. Isabel King, Josie Lillquist and Alyssa Studdert all registered a single assist.

Rhonee Shea Pal led Le Moyne with a game-high five goals, while Bella Sampo tallied twice. Grace Detor and Sarah Hutchings added a goal apiece. Hutchings also had a pair of assists, while Detor picked up one.
 
MORE STATS
— Cal nearly doubled Le Moyne's draw control output (11-6) with Kennedy Goss' game-high five draw controls again leading the Bears' dominance.
— Cal also held advantages in shots (25-24), shots on goal (18-13) and ground balls (21-16).
— Le Moyne converted two of its four free position shots, while Cal did not connect on any of its four.
— Both teams had strong play from their goalkeepers with Le Moyne's Paige Crandall going the entire game and stopping 12 Cal shots, while Alicia Souliotis took over for Cal starter Callan Fritsch at halftime and allowed only three goals after the break while coming up with three clutch fourth-quarter saves to keep the Bears close.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
— Le Moyne jumped out to its 3-0 lead on goals by Pal, Detor and Hutchings, with the final two coming on free position shots.
— Mason scored in the fleeting seconds of both the first and third periods with five and four ticks left, respectively. The first goal cut the Le Moyne lead to 3-1 and the second to 8-5.
— The two times Cal cut its deficit to a single goal in the second period came when Wong's scored unassisted with 13:20 to go before the half to make it 3-2 and Fischer tallied with 6:48 remaining to cut it to 4-3. Both goals were unassisted.
— Le Moyne would score four of the next five goals after the second time the Bears cut the lead to one, including three from Pal, to enjoy its biggest lead at 8-4.
— Cal made its final run with back-to-back goals by Mason late in the third and Rothman early in the fourth.
— Cal managed to get off only three shots over the final 12:05 after Rothman scored the Bears' last goal. Crandall saved the first two and the third went wide right.
— Sampo scored the game's final goal with 0:17 seconds remaining after Le Moyne had played 53 seconds of its final possession before Sampo's goal two players up followed green cards issued to both Goss and Wong with 1:10 to go.
 
NOTES
— Cal has dropped three straight games played in the Eastern Time Zone after having previously had a winning streak of five in a row.
— Cal was looking to start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2007.
— The temperature at gametime was 33 degrees.
 
UP NEXT
— Cal concludes its two-game road trip to New York by visiting Cornell for a nonconference game Saturday. First draw is Noon ET/9 a.m. PT.