HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- Houghton women's lacrosse dug themselves into an early 7-0 deficit, but responded with strong play over the final 45 minutes to pull within three (15-12) of John Carroll at the final horn.

Already the school leader in career and single season goals, junior Jennifer Zacchigna (East Aurora, NY, East Aurora ) set the single game record with seven goals on the afternoon. Chandler Jones (Collegeville, PA, Spring-Ford) finished with four goals and five assists.

The Blue Streaks scored four times over the first 10 minutes of the contest and added three more tallies before the game with 14 minutes old. But the Highlanders soon found their offense. Zacchigna scored twice in just over a minute, and after another John Carroll goal, Zacchigna and Jones scored back to back goals. The Blue Streaks added one more goal with just under seven seconds left in the first half to take a 9-4 lead into the locker room.

The visitors opened the half with an assault on goal, but Highlander keeper Kourtnie Franklin (Belfast, NY, Belfast) made four point-blank saves. The Blue Streaks managed to put one past Franklin with four minutes gone in the half before four-straight goals by Houghton made the score 10-8. Meghan Oswald (Penn Yan, NY, Marcus Whitman) scored the first, followed by Zacchigna and then two from Jones.

After the Blue Streaks scored two-straight to make it 12-8, Zacchigna scored her fifth of the day, then followed another John Carroll goal with her sixth, which tied her with her coach and sister Amanda Zacchigna for most goals in a game. Jones scored again to make the score 13-11, but the Blue Streaks scored twice more to go up by four. Zacchigna closed the scoring with her record seventh goal with :50 remaining on the clock.

Franklin made 11 stops between the pipes.

Zacchigna added seven ground balls, five caused turnovers and two draw controls. The teams were even at 37 turnovers apiece, and John Carroll had a slight edge in ground balls, 30-29.

Houghton (0-1) is back in action on Tuesday, March 8 when they travel to take on Wells College.