Women’s Lacrosse Beats Second Seed in Overtime

By Neil Kavanaugh

The women’s lacrosse team defeated second seed Franklin & Marshall College 10-9 this past Wednesday the 20th at home. The Cardinals have been on a tear this season, and defeating Franklin & Marshall, the second seed, was just the icing on top.

The team came back from a 6-3 deficit at the start of the second half to tie the game at 9 with under four minutes left. The ladies had the privilege of being the first team to play on the brand new Carlini Field, which was announced to be constructed in April of 2015. The Carlini Field is located directly behind the baseball diamond. Junior Holly Regan lead the team with 2 goals and 1 assist, and junior Nanci Hernandez had 12 saves.

The scoring opened up with the Diplomats scoring with a shot from the box just 2:11 into the game. The Birds were quick to respond, as junior middle Ally Criscuolo knocked one in the net just over a minute later. This went back and forth until the Diplomats got the upper hand, taking a 5-3 lead to end the first half.

With just under five minutes into the second half, Franklin & Marshall scored to give themselves a three goal lead. This did not deter the Birds, and they refused to give up. They continued to fight, and it showed with a goal by junior Julia Clementi with 23:02 left and another by Regan just a minute later to bring the score to 6-5. Franklin & Marshall managed to get another on the board, but the Birds responded with four unanswered goals to take the lead 9-7, featuring an acrobatic goal by senior Megan Ellis. The Diplomats scored twice again in the final five minutes to tie the game and force overtime.

The Cardinals fought very well, spending the first minute attacking the net, getting three key chances but eventually turning the ball over for an odd man rush that was stopped, due to some amazing moves from Hernandez. The Cards recovered the ball and rushed back on the attack and Criscuolo netted the game-winning goal to bring the final score to a 10-9 victory over the second highest seed in the region.

“It feels amazing to win a game like that, and it shows that we have the talent and team to beat anyone in the country,” said Regan. “We definitely didn’t play our cleanest or best game against F&M, but it proves to us how much talent and potential we have as a team moving forward. Winning in overtime is so much different than winning in regulation because of the sudden victory rule, and there is so much extra excitement and emotion.”

The team went 3-1 over this past spring break, and this win marked back to back wins against ranked teams, the other team being #15 Cortland. The Birds fought hard against #12 Wesleyan, but fell 14-8. The Cardinals are currently ranked #14, boast a record of 4-2, and play Elizabethtown this Saturday, March 23 at home at 1 p.m.