The University of Redlands women’s lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the 2009 season with a 14-22 decision to Colorado College on Friday at Farquhar Field.

Colorado College opened the game with three goals before Redlands found the back of the net off of sophomore midfielder Christy Smith’s (St. Louis Park, MN) first of four goals. A goal by senior midfielder Liza Gray (Centennial, CO) and another by Smith moved the Bulldogs within one with 18:58 to go in the first half, but the Tigers responded with four unanswered goals to put the game out of reach for Redlands.

A strong second-half performance provided new life for the Bulldogs, but the Tigers continued to press and maintained their lead through the final whistle.

For Redlands, freshman attack Ashley Finke (Austin, TX) led all scorers with seven goals, while Smith finished with four goals and two assists. Gray, senior midfielder Lauren Matta (Holyoke, MA) and freshman attack Kali Wilgus (Portland, OR) provided single goals, with freshman attack Blair Callaghan (Tacoma, WA) contributing one assist.

Colorado looked to 10 different goal-scorers, with Kristin Rider leading the team with five.

The Bulldogs (2-1) host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday, March 11, for 7 p.m. game.