Maine Maritime Academy women’s lacrosse fell to Johnson State College on Saturday afternoon 12-9 in North Atlantic Conference action. The win marks the Badgers’ first win of the 2016 campaign.

The Badgers jumped out to a 4-0 lead with 21:58 remaining in the first half, but the Mariners fought back on back-to-back goals from Briana Obshatkin to close the gap to 4-2. Johnson State’s Brittney Malik grabbed an unassisted goal at 9:06, to extend the Badgers’ lead to 5-3.

Sierra James connected on a free position shot at 8:43 to close the gap to two goals, but Malik scored just seconds later to make it 6-3. Rachael Redles scored on a pass from Obshatkin at 5:26, and the Mariners entered the halftime down 6-4.

James grabbed her second free position goal of the game to open up the second half, and Redles added a goal at 23:45 to tie the game at 6-6. The Badgers responded with four-straight goals to build a 10-6 lead at 16:56. An unassisted goal from Redles at 15:45 closed the gap to 10-7 but Nichole Weeks grabbed back-to-back goals to put the Badgers up 12-7.

Haley Eckert tallied her first-career goal on a free position shot at 5:57 and Mary Shea added an unassisted strike with just under two minutes to play but the Mariners’ comeback efforts fell short.

Redles ended the afternoon with her second hat trick of the season, on eight shots on goal, and both James and Obshatkin tallied two goals each. Eckert recorded a goal, four ground balls, four caused turnovers and a draw control, while Shea added a goal, four ground balls and three draw controls.

Mackenzie Vosburgh added a team-high five caused turnovers, while scooping up five ground balls and a draw control. Christina Wilson led the Mariners with nine ground balls, four caused turnovers and eight saves in net.

The Mariners held the advantage in shots, 30-27 and ground balls 39-30, while going 50 percent on free position attempts (3-for-6) and 21-of-26 on clear attempts.

Weeks led the Badgers with five goals and two assists, while recording a game-high 14 draw controls, nine ground balls and four caused turnovers. Malik ended the game with three goals and an assist, and Kaylyn Rood added two goals and two assists. Kaitlin Boucher tallied nine saves in net to earn the win for Johnson State.

The Mariners fall to 0-9 on the season and 0-4 in the conference, while the Badgers improve to 1-5 on the year and 1-2 in the NAC. Maine Maritime returns to action tomorrow, Sunday, April 10 when they host Wheelock College at 2:00 p.m. on Ritchie Field.