By Matt Faulkner
(Bethlehem, Pa. – March 16, 2013) With the snow coming down hard all game long, senior Amanda O’Sullivan scored her fifth goal of the game in the second overtime to propel the Colgate women’s lacrosse team to a 10-9 win over Lehigh on Saturday.
The Raiders (4-4, 2-0 PL) was led by O’Sullivan with her five goals, while Kate Sheridan had a great day with four points on two goals and two assists. Alison Flood had an impressive all-around game with two goals, a game-high five draws and a caused turnover.
Jenna Frost was the defensive leader for Colgate with a game-high four caused turnovers and a pair of ground ball pickups. Jennie Berglin made four saves in the 66 minutes played to earn her fourth win.
“Good win for the team against a league opponent as it’s always tough to play at Lehigh,” head coach Heather Young said. “Great for us to come back from break with a 2-0 league record.”
The Mountain Hawks (2-5, 0-2 PL) got a couple of hat tricks from Megan Paytas and Julie McBride with Paytas adding an assist for four points. Alex Fitzpatrick did her part with 11 stops in the cage with three big saves in the first overtime when Colgate held the ball for the entire three minutes.
After Colgate failed on its final possession of regulation, the Raiders gained the draw in the first overtime and held the ball for the entire three minutes. Fitzpatrick made three stops on O’Sullivan, Lauren Gorajek and Brooke Flanagan to send the game into a second extra frame.
In the second overtime, Colgate got the opening draw again and set up the offense. O’Sullivan came free and fired a shot past Fitzpatrick for the 10-9 lead. However, the Raiders had to hold onto the ball for the final two minutes. They got the draw, but Lehigh caused a turnover with one minute left. The Mountain Hawks put a shot wide and on the restart didn’t get the ball from behind the net and Colgate came out with hard fought 10-9 win.
“Amanda was huge for us today,” Young mentioned. “Not only with her five goals, but coming up with the draw controls in overtime.”
The opening half didn’t feature tons of offense on either side as the team’s did not score for the final 12 minutes of the half and the score was tied at 4-4 going into the break.
Lehigh was able to earn a quick 2-0 lead in the first 3:18 of the game with goals from Kendall Garden and McBrien. After McBrien’s score, Flood picked up a much-needed draw and fed the ball to Flanagan behind the goal. The senior then scored on a wrap around to cut the lead to one at 2-1 with 26:16 left in the first half.
After a Mountain Hawk tally that gave Lehigh a 3-1 lead, Colgate answered with back-to-back goals by O’Sullivan and Flood. Sheridan found O’Sullivan cutting into middle and the co-captain buried to make it 3-2 and then Flood beat a pair of defenders after a long possession to knot the game at 3-3.
Kelsey Yanco regained the lead for Lehigh at 4-3 with an up goal coming with 13:35 remaining, but just under two minutes later O’Sullivan tallied her second of the day to tie the game for the second time at 4-4.
With the snow coming down heavily, the conditions started to take its hold as neither team scored in the final 12 minutes and each team had errant passes and turnovers. The Mountain Hawks had an 8-7 shot advantage at the half and they were able to cause five turnovers.
The final 30 minutes were a battle with three ties, but Colgate never gave up its lead that it got in the first three minutes of the half. O’Sullivan and Sheridan were the goal scorers in the opening minutes to give Colgate a two-goal lead at 6-4. Lehigh then tallied three of the next four goals to tie the game 7-7 with 17:21 left in regulation.
Sheridan gave the Raiders the lead back at 8-7 with her second of the day, but the Mountain Hawks answered and it was 8-8 with 12:07 remaining. The teams then traded goals and with 10:43 left it was 9-9. Colgate did have its chances down the stretch, but Fitzpatrick stopped all three shots, including a free-position shot from O’Sullivan.
Colgate led in shots with a 27-16 advantage and Colgate had the 14-9 win in the draw control battle, which proved to be a big difference in today’s game.
The Raiders return home this coming Wednesday against St. Bonaventure. The game was originally scheduled to be on the road, but it will be played at Tyler’s Field. Colgate All-Access will be live at 4 p.m. on campus.
