SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The Southern Vermont College women's soccer team didn't have a lead through the first 106:56 of action Saturday afternoon, but a finally shot in the second overtime period gave the visiting Mountaineers a 5-4 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win at Newbury College.
SVC moves to 5-4 on the year and remains undefeated in league play (2-0) with its second straight victory and fourth in as many meetings with the Nighthawks.
Newbury had four leads throughout the day, but Southern Vermont was able to tie it up each time. Down 4-3 with just over two minutes to go in the second half, SVC junior Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) found sophomore Paige Vitale (Greenville, N.Y.) for a late equalizer. Nesshoever then registered her sixth goal of the year with 3:03 remaining in the second overtime session to help Southern Vermont pull past Newbury.
The Mountaineers are next in action on Wednesday when they head to Green Mountain College for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference contest.
Southern Vermont never trailed by more than one in the opening 45 minutes, notching tying scores after each of Newbury's three strikes in the period. NC put home its first just 6:30 into the match, but the Mountaineers tied it up in the 12th minute when freshman Molly Madore (Higganum, Conn.) scored her fourth goal of the year.
Newbury went back on top at the 27:05 mark, but once again SVC evened it up when Southern Vermont freshman Naya Cerda (West Islip, N.Y.) notched her first collegiate goal in the 31st minute. The tie didn't last long as the Nighthawks scored 30 seconds later for another upper hand, sophomore Shannon Walsh (Massapequa, N.Y.) putting in her second goal of the day to make it 3-2 in favor of the hosts. Another collegiate first would send the game to halftime knotted at 3-3, however, with SVC freshman Sydnee Julian (Mexico, N.Y.) taking a pass from classmate Ally McNamee (Freehold, N.J.) and knocking it across the line.
The second half saw more of a defensive battle, neither side getting into the back of the net through the first 36 minutes of the period. Finally, Newbury put another on the board when Walsh assisted the go-ahead goal at the 81:13 mark. With time waning, Southern Vermont pushed to even things up and eventually got the needed score to extend the match; Nesshoever played it to Vitale who tallied her first goal of the season, tying things at 4-4 with 2:03 left in regulation. Neither side could get a shot off in the remaining minutes as the game went to the extra stanzas.
SVC was held without an attempt at net in the first overtime while allowing Newbury to get off only two, both being saved by Mountaineer freshman keeper Carissa Bottisti (Amsterdam, N.Y.). The Nighthawks then had one off-target take just 34 seconds into the second extra 10-minute overtime, the only shot from either side in the period before Nesshoever's game winner was sent in for the visitors to celebrate the Conference triumph.
Bottisti made three saves on the day to collect her first collegiate victory in net (1-0).