NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Southern Vermont College fell 14-13 Wednesday afternoon in a heartbreaking non-conference women's lacrosse overtime loss at Mass. College of Liberal Arts' Shewcraft Field.

SVC took a 9-6 lead into halftime before clinging to a 13-11 edge with just over five minutes to go in the second period. MCLA was able to trim its deficit under the 4:00 mark and then found the equalizer with just 33 ticks left in regulation. Both teams had their chances in the extra session, but it would be a Trailblazer strike that ended the tightly-contested match.

The Mountaineers are back in action on Saturday when they visit Mitchell College for a 1 p.m. New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) matchup.

Southern Vermont junior captain Mel Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) tallied a season-high five goals to lead all players, adding team-bests of six ground balls and five draw controls in the effort. Classmate and fellow captain Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) followed with four goals and two draw controls while additional junior captain Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) netted a pair to go along with her four draw controls. Mountaineer freshman Stephany Ferreira (Shelton, Conn.) also tallied her first collegiate goal on the afternoon.

SVC freshman keeper Sydnee Julian (Mexico, N.Y.) made seven saves while suffering the loss in net (0-2), playing the final 32 minutes of action after going into goal for the second half and the overtime period. Sophomore Kelsey Carrera (Queensbury, N.Y.) made six saves from the crease with the start for the Mountaineers.

Southern Vermont took a 15-12 edge in draw controls and tallied three free-position goals to the Trailblazers' one. MCLA took the upper hand on the turf, however, scooping up a 27-16 advantage in ground balls.

Ferreira was the first player to get onto the scoresheet, taking a free-position shot from the top of the fan and discarding it into the top-left corner of the frame to give SVC the early lead. Lesure padded that Mountaineer edge less than two minutes later when she took a pass on the left side of the goal and carried the ball across the frame of the net before ripping a low shot past the MCLA keeper.

The Trailblazers would be quick to tie the score as they recorded two goals in a 41-second span to even things at 2-2. SVC seized the momentum thereafter, going on a 6-1 run to go up by five. Lesure started that stretch to immediately put her team back on top after snagging a pass from Julian near the middle of the pitch; she wove through the MCLA defense on the long carry and slotted a left-handed shot into the back of the cage for her second of the day.

Orrell followed over six minutes later after taking a pass from Carrera in the backfield, rolling around a Nessheover pick about 20 yards behind the center dot into open field; the junior picked up speed through the midfield as she went at goal, maneuvering around the Trailblazer defenders and firing a high shot into the top of the cage to make it 4-2. SVC extended its upper hand when Orrell again carried it through open space in the middle of the field before tossing it over the top to sophomore Kristy Goldup (Schuylerville, N.Y.). Goldup caught the pass at the right edge of the fan and slotted her second of the year into the net to put her team up by three.

MCLA cut it to a 5-3 game just over a minute later, only to see Nesshoever push it back to three at the 6:03 mark of the first. She took the ball on the left side of the field and brought into the fan with her back to the net; Nesshoever spun off of her defender to free up her shooting lane and made the most of it with her ninth goal of the year. Orrell then put home two straight scores in a span of just over a minute for the Mountaineers to go on top 8-3.

The Trailblazers closed out the half on a strong note, however, going on a quick 3-1 run over the final 3:45 of the stanza to get within three going to the break. Lesure got her hat-trick in that spurt, scoring her ninth goal of the year with 51 ticks to go before MCLA answered with just seconds left on the clock to make it a 9-6 SVC lead.

The Mountaineer advantage was trimmed even further as the Trailblazers struck with the first two goals of the second half to get within one, but Lesure and Nesshoever teamed up for back-to-back scores in just 14 seconds of game time to push it back to three. Lesure's 10th of the year came on a free-position shot, and Nesshoever then pocketed the ensuing draw control, carried it down the left edge and deked her defender to open up shooting space for the goal.

Scoring was traded through the midpoint of the half as an Orrell free-position goal was sandwiched by a pair of Trailblazer tallies, and MCLA then cut it to one with a man-up goal at the 6:30 mark. Orrell gave her team some breathing room with 5:12 to play as she netted her fifth of the afternoon and team-leading 13th goal of the season after splitting the Trailblazer defense and ripping a shot into the left side of the cage.

The rest would be all MCLA, however, the Trailblazers scored with 3:37 left to go before finding the equalizer with just 33 seconds on the clock. SVC had a free-position attempt soon-after with 18 ticks to play but would be unable to get a shot off as the game headed to overtime.

Orrell had a free-position opportunity granted to her less than 30 seconds into the extra session, but the MCLA keeper came up big to keep clock running. The Trailblazers would then bury the game-winning goal on a pass from behind the net to celebrate the comeback victory.