BOX SCORE
RIVERDALE, N.Y. -- After seeing a six goal lead disappear in the final eight minutes of regulation, the Manhattan College women's lacrosse team outscored LeMoyne College 2-1 in two overtime periods to come out on top of the Dolphins 14-13 in a match played at Gaelic Park Sunday afternoon. Lady Jasper freshman Chrissy Gutenberger scored both overtime goals for Manhattan, including the winning goal with 31 seconds to go in the second extra period.
Gutenberger had four goals on the day, along with one assist. Teammate Caralyn Hickey topped that goal total, netting five. Lady Jaspers Tara Convery had two goals and Julia Lavelle, Phelicia Van Overbeke and Cristina Tarulli tallied one goal each. Lavelle had one assist, as did Keri Morrison. Morrison had five ground balls and five caused turnovers to standout in midfield, while Van Overbeke also had five ground balls and Convery picked up four to go with four caused turnovers. For the Dolphins, Rebekah Elmer had four goals and Mia Valletta and Nerissa Barzee had three each.
The scoring in the contest went back and fourth for most of the first half, with LeMoyne taking a 5-4 lead with 10 seconds to go in the half. But Hickey scored a highlight goal right at the halftime horn to tie the score at 5-5. That goal began a 5-0 flurry of goals that ran through the 16 minute mark in the second half, before LeMoyne finally tallied at 13:29 to make the score 9-6.
Manhattan then scored three unanswered goals in the next five plus minutes to take the score to 12-6 at 10:48, but then LeMoyne ran off six straight goals in the final 8:10 ? three by Barzee ? to tie the score at 12-12 to take the score into overtime.
In the first of two three-minute overtime periods, LeMoyne's Valetta scored with just 17 seconds to go. But with 1:22 to go in the second OT period, Gutenberger scored her first overtime goal, to be followed less than a minute later by her exciting game winner.
“We clearly had a letdown in the final minutes of the game, but to their credit LeMoyne showed a lot of heart,” said Manhattan coach Jim Drivas. “But we didn't put our heads down and we then showed a lot of heart to comeback in overtime to take the victory.” It was the first win for a Drivas-coached Manhattan team over LeMoyne during his five-year coaching tenure.
Both keepers saw a great deal of action, as Manhattan took 40 shots on the game and LeMoyne 30. LeMoyne's goalkeeper Kelly Fucillo posted 20 saves, while Lady Jasper keeper Allison Brown had 11 saves.
LeMoyne (now 0-3 on the season) won the ground ball battle 37-28, but Manhattan had 16 draw controls to LeMoyne's 14.
Manhattan, now 1-1 on the young season, continues its homestand when it takes on Lafayette College Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Gaelic Park.
