The Oswego State women’s lacrosse team earned its first conference win of the season in a stunning, come-from-behind, double-overtime 13-12 victory over SUNY Potsdam on Tuesday afternoon at Laker Field.
Junior attacker Rachel Raffa’s goal with about five-and-a-half minutes into the sudden death second overtime gave the Lakers (4-3, 1-2 SUNYAC) a thrilling victory.
Early in regulation, the thought of overtime would have seemed impossible because of the Bears’ dominance. Potsdam took a 5-2 halftime lead and extended their advantage to 7-2 less than two minutes into the second half on a pair of goals by junior attacker Carly Richards.
After Richards’ second goal, the Lakers held SUNY Potsdam (4-8, 0-4 SUNYAC) scoreless until just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Oswego State took charge during that period of time to get back into the game.
Junior attacker Erin Cummings began the Lakers’ scoring streak on an unassisted goal with 26:37 remaining in the game to bring the score to 7-3. Another junior attacker, Kristen Darcy, followed that up with a goal five minutes later. Cummings scored six minutes later to cut the Bears’ lead to two.
Raffa scored with 12:29 left in regulation and sophomore midfielder/attacker Stephanie Cronk scored to tie the game at seven. Oswego State took the lead for the first time in the game with 8:47 remaining on Raffa’s third goal of the game.
"We just needed to match their aggressiveness," Oswego State head coach Brandi Ostrander said. "We were missing the killer instinct in the first half and in the second half we found it."
Cummings scored with just over three minutes left to give Oswego State a 9-7 lead, but the Lakers surrendered the lead on goals by Richards and junior midfielder Aubrey Macintosh to tie the game. The teams traded goals in the final two minutes to send the game to overtime.
In the first overtime period, Cummings scored with less than two minutes remaining to give the Lakers an 11-10 lead. Potsdam Junior attacker Maribeth Simmons scored 30 seconds later to once again tie the game. Darcy scored for the Lakers and Richard did the same for SUNY Potsdam to send the game into a second overtime period tied at 12.
Raffa and Cummings led Oswego State with four goals each. Raffa also had a game-high two assists.
Richards scored a game-high five goals for the Bears.
"It was an intense back and forth, back and forth game," Ostrander said. "We made a lot of mistakes but my team showed heart and came back into it."
