Lakewood, N.J. - For the second consecutive season, Georgian Court University upended nationally-ranked NYIT as the Lions held off the #23 Bears, 9-5, to secure a confidence-building non-conference home win Wednesday afternoon in women's lacrosse action.

GCU (4-4), now winners of two straight over NYIT, defeated the Bears (ranked #13 at the time) on the road last season on February 28, 2018 by a score of 18-17.

Sara Giammarella (Fr.-Sound Beach, N.Y.) netted the first goal of the contest just 29 seconds into action to provide the visitors a very early 1-0 advantage. That tally would represent the only lead of the day for the Bears as Georgian Court responded with five unanswered tallies to produce a healthy 5-1 surplus with 5:01 to go in the half.

The two squads would produce four goals apiece the rest of the way, but the Bears could not claw back into contention as the Lions closed out the fourth victory over the last five outings for GCU.

Arianna Quinlan enjoyed her best game of the year as the Georgian Court junior paced the Lions with a season-best four goals in the triumph. Angelina Palermo poured in a pair of her own while Nicole Barbella dished three helpers to bump up her conference-leading total to 34 overall.

Amber Neumann enjoyed a strong showing in the GCU net as the Lions' net-minder collected seven saves over 60:00 to secure the junior her fourth win of the season. Ashley Miller (Sr.-Selden, N.Y.) settled six saves of her own for NYIT in the complete-game setback.

Georgian Court will not take the field again until next Wednesday when the Lions host Chestnut Hill College at 3:30 p.m. in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action.