HUNTVILLE, Ala. | The first Gulf South Conference match for the Young Harris College women's lacrosse team will go down as a memorable one.

The Mountain Lions, who were playing in their first-ever conference match after playing three seasons as an independent, scored the final eight goals of the match - including the winner with 19 seconds remaining - to defeat the University of Alabama in Huntsville 17-16 Saturday (April 9) afternoon at Charger Park.
 
The Mountain Lions improved to 9-5 overall and to 1-0 in the Gulf South while the Chargers fell to 11-3 and 2-1. Young Harris will continue its sojourn through Alabama with a 1 p.m. Central time GSC match against the University of Montevallo Sunday (April 10) in Montevallo, Alabama.
 
UAH scored four unanswered goals – three of them by Natalie Pachinger – to open up a 16-9 lead with 12:45 remaining.
 
Kendra Parenteau started the decisive rally with three consecutive goals in a two-minute span pull the Mountain Lions within 16-13. Taylor Lincoln and Rachel Lepine sandwiched free-position goals around a Nicole Kernohan strike to pull within a goal at 16-15 with 2:23 to go.
 
Jaclyn Kernohan tied the match at 16 33 seconds as she scored off a Sarah Bialecki assist. Jaclyn Kernohan scored the go-ahead goal with 19 seconds remaining after UAH turned the ball over for the 26th time (13th in the second half).  It was The Mountain Lions were able to preserve the win as Maddie Peek won the final draw control and was able to run the clock out.
 
It was a very even match as Young Harris held a 35-34 margin in shots while the Chargers held slim leads in draw controls (20-15) and ground balls (25-19).
 
Jaclyn Kernohan led the Mountain Lions with six goals. It was the fourth time in her career that's she scored six in a match. Parenteau and Nicole Kernohan each added three goals while Lepine and Lincoln contributed two apiece. Peek accounted for the other YHC goal. Bialecki tallied three assists while Parenteau had two and Jaclyn Kernohan had one.
 
Lincoln and Hannah Sacristan led YHC with three ground balls each while Bialecki, Lepine, Jaclyn Kernohan, and Meghan Tonnesen had two apiece. Tonnesen registered six draw controls while Peek added four.
 
Julia Darroch earned the win in goal with 11 saves for the Mountain Lions.