BENNINGTON, Vt. — With a dramatic finish, Southern Vermont College celebrated a 12-11 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's lacrosse victory over Bay Path University at Everett Field Saturday afternoon.
Despite going with 11 players for the entire match, the Mountaineers were able to hold off BPU for their first-ever win on their own pitch. Saturday's game was the last regular season home game for SVC, but Southern Vermont has put itself in a position to host an NECC first round playoff next week.
The Mountaineers (4-8, 3-3 NECC) conclude the regular season schedule with a 12 p.m. Sunday meeting at Wheelock College, a match that will be crucial in helping determine seeds three through five in the NECC postseason. The Wildcats (2-7, 2-5) concluded their regular season Saturday afternoon and now await the final results from this weekend to see where they will play in Tuesday's first round playoff.
Down 5-3 midway through the first half, Southern Vermont scored four unanswered goals in the final 2:48 of play to take a two-goal lead to the break. Bay Path came out and scored the first two of the second period to tie things at 7-7, but the Mountaineers registered five of the next seven scores to go up by three with just over nine minutes to go.
The Wildcats chipped away with two goals under the 5:00 mark, setting up a nail-biting finish. Bay Path was able to get the ball into its offensive third of the field as time waned and nearly made the most of it; a free position shot was saved in the final second of play as the horn sounded to signal the SVC victory.
Mountaineer sophomore Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) scored a game-high five goals while grabbing three ground balls and three draw controls in the triumph. Classmate Lauren Nesshoever (Rutland, Vt.) tallied a season-best four goals to go with her game-high six ground balls, and SVC freshman Maja Stanisic (Burlington, Vt.) led the hosts with six ground balls collected on the day.
Southern Vermont freshman Natalie Canterbury (New Hartford, Conn.), freshman Taylor Brewer (Bennington, Vt.), and sophomore Jackie Scanlon (Salem, N.Y.) each notched a goal with Canterbury adding four ground balls and Brewer picking up five to go with her four draw controls.
SVC freshman keeper Kelsey Carrera (Queensbury, N.Y.) was solid in net for the Mountaineers, recording a season-best 18 saves to pick up the win between the pipes (4-8). BPU freshman goalie Nicole Gousey (Enfield, Conn.) stopped 13 Southern Vermont shots in the loss (2-6).
Four Wildcats notched multi-goal performances with senior Nicole Mitchell (Hopkinton, Mass.) putting up three goals, six ground balls and three draw controls. Junior Dallas Jackson (Springfield, Mass.) had another three scores to go with an assist and three ground balls while freshman Kaylee Herring (Worcester, Vt.) had two goals, two assists, five draw controls and four ground balls. Senior Megan Tancredi (Newington, Conn.) scored twice and assisted on a third, adding eight ground balls, four draw controls and two caused turnovers to her line. Freshman Elena Helming (Maplewood, N.J.) scored a goal while notching two caused turnovers, a draw control and a game-best 11 ground balls.
The draws were even on the day with each team grabbing control of 13 while SVC took a 21-15 edge in turnovers. The Wildcats owned a 37-33 advantage in ground balls, and each side had 12 successful clears on the afternoon.
Nesshoever got the scoring started with her first tally at the 27:37 mark, running all the way around the back of the net before firing a low shot for the goal. Mitchell answered with an unassisted notch just 14 seconds later as she won the draw control and went all the way to the goal before depositing the ball into the back of the net for the equalizer. Lesure would then score her first of the game almost six minutes later on a play similar to Nesshoever's, but Bay Path again had the response when Tancredi took the ball behind the net and found Jackson in front for the quick catch-and-shoot that made it a 2-2 game with 20:53 to play in the first.
The Wildcats then scored the next two goals of the contest to take their first lead of the day. Herring finished a backhand shot as she ran to her left across the goal frame, and Jackson found Mitchell in front of the net for Bay Path to go up 4-2. Lesure trimmed the deficit to one as she sniped a shot into the lower left corner of the goal, but Mitchell registered her third of the game and second in a 1:11 stretch on a free position shot that put the visitors on top 5-3 with 17:07 to go.
14 minutes of scoreless action ensued as both goalkeepers came up with big saves to maintain the difference. The final three minutes of the period would be all SVC as the Mountaineers scored four times to take a lead into the break. Nesshoever started the surge with a wrap-around carry and scoop shot for the finish, and Brewer then fired the ball into the lower left corner on a free position shot to tie things up. Canterbury registered her score as she came from behind the goal and backed herself down towards the net, finally popping out a couple steps before flinging the ball into the top right corner with just 25 ticks on the clock. Lesure added a piece of insurance as she beat the buzzer, using a time-stopping Bay Path foul to rush the front of the goal and finish high with five seconds left before halftime.
Following intermission, Tancredi put her team on her back by scoring two goals in the opening 2:25 of the second half to again tie the match. Nesshoever put her team back ahead with an underhand shot after rounding the goal, and Lesure followed five minutes later as she took a Bay Path turnover right to the net before depositing her fourth of the day to make it a 9-7 Southern Vermont lead. Carrera then came up with a nice save on a BPU free position shot, finding the outlet pass before Lesure carried the ball about 75 yards down the gut of the field; she capped the transition with her fifth score which gave her team a three-goal advantage with 18:53 to go.
A pair of Herring-to-Jackson scores cut Bay Path's deficit to one through the mid-portion of the stanza, and a scoreless five minutes preceded Scanlon firing a free position shot to the opposite post from the right side of the field to put her team back up by two. Nesshoever then converted a free position shot of her own for a 12-9 lead with 9:06 left to play, and SVC would be held without a goal the rest of the way.
Herring took the ball on the left side of the pitch and went right at the net, putting home her second goal at the 4:37 mark to keep her team within striking distance. Just over a minute later, Helming carried it in from the middle third of the field and bounced a shot between Carrera's legs to make it a one-goal differential with 3:18 left to go.
Both keepers came up with a save under the two-minute mark, and a late SVC foul in transition gave the ball back to Bay Path with hardly any time on the clock. The Mountaineer defense held tight and failed to give up a quality look at goal for the Wildcats, a final shot that was blocked by Carrera as Southern Vermont let out a sigh of relief while celebrating the win.