BRYN ATHYN, Pa. – The Felician University women's lacrosse team made its long-awaited return to competition on Friday night. Playing for the first time since Mar. 10, 2020, Felician faced Holy Family University in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action at Nelson Field.

While Holy Family came away with a 17-2 victory, the night was a milestone in returning the sixth-year Felician program to a more regular routine. The Golden Falcons played just two games last year before the season was shut down to the onset of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and had already seen five 2021 contests postponed or cancelled.

"It honestly feels so great to be back on the field," said junior tri-captain Cara Johnson (Manchester, N.J.). "It was starting to feel like it was never going to happen for us. We really have a great team atmosphere. We just have to keep our heads up and be ready for the rest of the season."

On Friday, freshman goalkeeper Lauren Bain (Hamilton, Ontario) made 19 saves and picked up a Felician-high three ground balls in her collegiate debut. Golden Falcon redshirt freshman attack Krista Cagno (East Brunswick, N.J.) scored in the first half, and newcomer Tala Marzooq (Ewing, N.J.) tallied her first career goal during period two.

Holy Family (2-4, 2-3 CACC) built a 4-0 lead after six minutes of action. The score stood at 6-0 when Cagno found the cage off an Amanda Panaccione (Old Bridge, N.J.) pass late in the first half, but the Tigers answered and went into the break ahead, 7-1.

HFU produced four more scores in the first five minutes of the second half to enact the 10-goal running clock. Marzooq temporarily halted the mercy rule with a goal with 22:18 remaining, but the Golden Falcons could not produce another marker.

The Tigers piled up advantages of 44-7 in shots and 37-14 in ground balls. HFU junior midfielder Mackenzie Santucci (Columbus, N.J.) turned in a strong two-way effort with six goals, nine ground balls and four caused turnovers. Pannacione had a team-high three draw controls for Felician.

"Of course this was not the outcome we had hoped for, but it was 100% exciting to be back in that position after all this time," Johnson said. "This is just the start for us."

Felician plays a CACC makeup at Georgian Court University on Sunday at 11 a.m. in Lakewood, N.J.