Mary Elizabeth Klepper of the Saint Joseph’s women’s lacrosse team scored the game-tying goal against La Salle with 48 seconds left in regulation to send her team into overtime last Thursday, but the Hawks couldn’t pull off the victory, despite battling through two overtimes.
The Explorers (7-10, 3-0 Atlantic 10) gained their third consecutive victory with the 9-8 win. The victory was their third consecutive win and allowed them to remain undefeated in the A-10.
The 3-0 streak in conference play is the best start to a season any La Salle squad has ever achieved in program history.
Scoring began in the 11th minute of the first half with a SJU goal by Julie Mineweaser. The Explorers notched three goals of their own, and took a 3-2 lead going into halftime.
The Hawks (2-10, 0-3 A-10) came out strong in the second half as Grace Dinn scored two minutes into the period. La Salle responded almost immediately with two shots to take the biggest lead of the game at 5-3.
The Hawks would not give up that easily, however, and tied it back up. The two teams exchanged goals seven times as the end of regulation approached, neither team managing to pull away. This back-and-forth style affair continued until the final minute of regulation when Klepper tied it up yet again, making the score tied at eight.
Explorer’s Melanie Sarcinello came up with the game-winner in overtime.
W&M defeat Richmond
Richmond fell to No. 20 William & Mary, 11-10, on Sunday afternoon at UR Stadium.
The Tribe benefited from impressive scoring by junior Grace Golden, who led offensively with five points, including four goals and one assist. Katie Delaney scored four goals of her own, a career-high for the senior.
Golden also shined in other aspects of the game as she broke a single-game record for W&M with six turnovers. Her impressive play moved her into the Tribe’s career top 10 lists for points, goals and draw controls.
Although the Spiders (5-8, 2-1 A-10) scored the first two goals of the game, they didn’t hold the lead for long. The Tribe rallied and scored five consecutive goals, making the score 5-2 with six minutes left in the first frame.
Richmond answered with two more goals, but momentum shifted back to the Tribe as halftime neared and Golden drilled a shot past the W&M goalkeeper.
Scoring was relatively even in the second half, bringing the score to 7-6 in W&M’s advantage with 22 minutes left to play. The Spiders fought back and came within three goals with under four minutes remaining.
Although Richmond tacked on another two goals, it wasn’t enough, as the Tribe walked away with the victory.
SBU downs rival Niagara
St. Bonaventure defeated Big 4 rival Niagara, 17-9, on Tuesday afternoon at Niagara Field after a second half scoring spree.
With the win, the Bonnies continue a three-game winning streak and improve to 7-5 on the season while Niagara falls to 1-5 overall.
SBU senior Molly Hastrich had an impressive showing with six goals and one assist, while junior Christine Hanley and sophomore Danielle Drabin contributed four goals each.
Scoring was even in the first half, and the Bonnies held on to a slim 9-7 lead going into halftime. However, the second half was when SBU came alive and went on a dominating 9-1 scoring streak that lasted a solid 13 minutes. The scoring frenzy gave the Bonnies a 15-8 lead with 10 minutes to play.
SBU added another two goals within the remaining minutes, while keeping the Purple Eagles to one last score.
Bonnie senior goalkeeper Tori Waheibi had eight saves in the victory, bringing her career total to 249 and upping her to third in the program record book.
SBU returns to its home field today at 3 p.m. to host Temple for their first A-10 conference game of the season.
Kara Deyermenjian can be reached at [email protected].
