Wins haven’t exactly been commonplace for the Warwick Vets girls’ lacrosse team of late, so head coach Kathy Palazzo was pleased that her team picked up its third victory of the year on Thursday, 11-8 over Cranston East.

Yet, the ’Canes are still under-performing in their coach’s eyes, as a season that started out with some promise has gone in the wrong direction. Vets is 3-5 in Division II, and is currently tied for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“I’m definitely glad we got the win, but I’m not happy with the way we played today,” Palazzo said.

The next day, Vets lost to second-place Lincoln School 22-12.

Since winning four of five games in the early season – including two non-league victories – the ’Canes have lost three of four. With only three games remaining in the regular season, Vets has limited time to turn it around and make sure it secures a playoff berth.

“I told them at halftime, ‘I feel like we look like a totally different team than the beginning of the season,’” Palazzo said. “We’re not making passes, we’re not catching the ball, we’re not getting groundballs and we’re not controlling our stick.”

Still, the ’Canes needed a win on Thursday, and they got it.

Jenna Fontaine paced the offense with four goals, Emily Almonte added three and a key stretch at the beginning of the second half made the difference.

Trailing 5-4 at the break, Vets scored four goals in just over three minutes, winning four consecutive face-offs and scoring each time.

At the 21:53 mark in the second, the ’Canes led 8-5. Karrine Medeiros scored the first one, Fontaine scored the second and Almonte fired in the next two, giving Vets a lead it would never give up.

“That’s probably what propelled us forward in this game,” Palazzo said. “We got the momentum back a little bit.”

Outside of that stretch, the game was essentially even.

“We kind of let it slip away,” said East head coach Howard Chun. “We fought back and they did a good job.”

East refused to let Vets pull away, as Stephanie Groccia scored quickly after the ’Canes’ four-goal burst, and Beatrix Kanno scored one of her game-high five goals on a free position with 20:13 to play, pulling the ’Bolts within one.

Over the next six minutes, neither team scored, and they rarely threatened. Any goal-scoring opportunities were turned aside by goalkeepers Olivia Tagliaferri and Katelen Pick. East’s Tagliaferri finished with 20 saves, while Vets’ pick had six.

With 14:34 to play, the ’Canes finally got back on the board. Fontaine scored on a free position to give her team a two-goal lead, but East got right back within one three minutes later when Kanno scored again on a free position.

At 9-8, Vets had little margin for error, and it got unlucky when Savannah Hersey fired a shot off the post with 10 minutes to play. Not long afterwards, however, Fontaine scored on a free position and East couldn’t cut into the deficit. With 4:45 to go, Nicole Luiz added the final goal of the game, and the ’Canes went into a stall offense for the remainder of the game, killing the clock.

“We got the ball down, we just couldn’t get the ball away,” Chun said.

Vets played nearly the entire game without senior midfielder Casey Bennett, one of the team’s top performers. She was whistled for two yellow cards in the first half, the second of which is considered a red card. She missed the final 33:24 of game time.

“She is one of our best players,” Palazzo said. “She plays midfield, so she’s constantly going up and down the field. You can feel it when you don’t have one of your starters in.”

Bennett gave Vets a 1-0 lead with a goal in just over a minute into the game, and Hersey made it 2-0 with a goal three minutes later. Kanno got East on the board at the 17:59 mark before Hersey made it 3-1 Vets 30 seconds later.

Emely Anico found Kanno wide open next to the goal with 14 minutes to play in the first, and Kanno converted to pull the ’Bolts within 3-2. They tied the score four minutes later when Kanno scored again.

In the final two minutes, East got a goal from Salma Flores and one from Groccia on a free position. Almonte scored with 20 seconds left in the half to make the halftime score 5-4.

East dropped to 1-8 with the loss.

Vets has three games remaining on the season, as it hosts 5-3 Classical on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and then plays Portsmouth and Lincoln next week.

It is tied with East Providence – a team it beat 19-7 earlier in the season – for the final playoff spot.

“They just need to stay focused and get their head back in the game,” Palazzo said.