By Matt Faulkner
(Worcester, Mass. – March 30, 2013) The Colgate women’s lacrosse team erased a seven-goal deficit to force overtime, but Holy Cross scored with one second left in the second overtime to earn the 15-14 win in Patriot League action.
Colgate (6-6, 2-2 PL ) was led by Amanda O’Sullivan and Emily Peebles as each had four goals in the loss, while Alison Flood tallied a hat trick and Megan Ark had two goals. Jennie Berglin made four saves.
Holy Cross (5-7, 2-1 PL) got hat tricks from three different players and Sara Hennessey scored the gamewinner on a free-position shot. Sara Weber made only three saves, but two of them came down the stretch and one was in overtime on a free-position for Colgate.
Holy Cross got out to a fast start with the first seven goals of the game in the first 10 minutes of action. Five of the seven goals came in a span of less than three minutes and Maddie Carellas led the way with two of the six scores. Two goals came as free-position shots as the Raiders were called for nine fouls during the advantage and the Crusaders won seven of the first eight draw controls.
The Raiders were able to answer with seven of the next nine goals scored and cut the Holy Cross lead down to two at 9-7 going into halftime. Brooke Flanagan got Colgate on the board with just under 17 minutes remaining and after the Crusaders made it 8-1 a minute later, the Raiders fired back with four-straight tallies.
Flood had back-to-back scores with one coming on a free-position shot and the lead was sliced to 8-3 with 13 minutes left. Then O’Sullivan recorded the first of her three in the opening half on another free-position opportunity to make it 8-4. Laura Ryan calmed the game down for a moment as she netted her third of the day with 2:45 remaining in the half.
However, the momentum didn’t stay with the Crusaders long as O’Sullivan cut the deficit to two with back-to-back scores, including a free-position goal with four seconds left to put the Raiders to within two going into the half.
The second half started out much like the first with Holy Cross coming out of the locker room and scoring three-straight.
The Raiders didn’t go away however and fired back with five-straight goals to tie the game at 12-12. Peebles and Ark were the stars during the run with two goals apiece, while O’Sullivan tallied her fourth of the day. The goals came during a seven-minute span. Flanagan was key as well with two assist, including the tying goal from Ark with 11:35 left in the half.
The teams then traded goals and Holy Cross was able to regain the lead at 13-12 and 14-13. Flood scored to tie the game at 13 all, but Kim Corkum made it 14-13 with six minutes remaining. The Crusaders were able to win the draw, but they turned the ball over with Emily Speck making the defensive play. The Raiders capitalized with Peebles scoring her career-high fourth of the day to tie the game at 14-14 with 1:40 left.
The Raiders had two chances down the stretch with Flood shooting it wide and Ark being turned away by Weber in the final seconds to force overtime. Holy Cross then scored with one second left on a free-position shot in the second overtime to win the game at 15-14.
Colgate will be in action against next weekend as the Raiders travel to Delaware State.