Women's Lacrosse Wins 13-10 Overtime Thriller in Shannon O'Neil's Debut

Villanova comes back from a 10-7 fourth quarter deficit to win season opener.

Sarah DePeters scored five goals, including two in overtime to lead Villanova past Drexel 13-10 in their 2001 season opener.

March 8, 2001

Villanova, PA - Trailing 10-7 with 10:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, Villanova rattled off six straight goals, including three in the last 10 minutes of regulation and three in overtime to secure a hard fought victory in their 2001 season opener and the debut of new head coach Shannon O'Neil. With the victory, Villanova improves to 1-0 overall, while Drexel falls to 0-1.

Drexel got the scoring started first when Katrina Rand (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) tallied unassisted just 1:35 into the game. Villanova's Sarah DePeters (Rochester, NY/Irondequoit) struck back only 34 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1. Following up DePeters goal, Wildcat junior Cecily Pierce (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan) added to Villanova's lead. Her unassisted tally pushed the Wildcat advantage to 2-1. Drexel would respond, scoring twice over the next seven minutes to regain the lead 3-2 at the 19:32 mark of the first half. With 10:12 remaining Villanova regained control and scored four unanswered goals over the next four minutes to take a commanding 6-3 lead. Recording unassisted goals for Villanova during the run were sophomore Jackie Higgins (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset), two goals, Meghan Carolan (Hicksville, NY/Hicksville), one goal, and DePeters, one goal. Drexel's Cindy Arnold and Rand each netted goals in the half's remaining two minutes to cut the Wildcat lead to 6-5.

In the second half it was all Drexel early, as the Dragons scored five of the first six goals in the half, including four straight over seven minutes. The scoring flurry by Drexel was highlighted by two goals from Jamie Kosmaczewski (Sewell, NJ/Camden-Catholic) and Laurie Bean (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford), and one goal from Jaime Connahan (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township). Recording the lone goal for Villanova during the Drexel run was DePeters. The junior scored her third goal of the afternoon at 27:37 of the second half.

After Drexel tallied their 10th goal at the 19:44 mark, Pierce and Higgins took the game into their own hands. Pierce tallied twice and Higgins found the back of the net after a beautiful pass from Lauren Ferrara (Tabernacle, NJ/Shawnee) to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:05 remaining. Villanova got several very good scoring chances in the game's last few minutes but could not connect on any of them. On the other end, Drexel also received several good scoring opportunities, but was shut down by Villanova goalkeeper Brandy Grenier (Rochester, NY/Brighton). The freshman entered the game five and a half minutes into the second half and allowed just two goals. She made three crucial saves as time expired to force the overtime.

In overtime, Villanova continued their dominance scoring just 17 seconds into the extra frame when DePeters tallied her fourth goal of the game. She scored just 1:26 later on a feed from Caitlin Cocks (Northport, NY/Northport) to extend Villanova's lead to 12-10. Pierce would add a goal with six seconds remaining in the first overtime half to put the game out of reach. In the second overtime Villanova used a ball control offense to run out the clock and get their 2001 season off on the right foot with a 13-10 victory over cross-town rival Drexel.

Final Score: Drexel 10, Villanova 13 (OT)

Running Score: Tm. Time Goal Assist Score (D-VU) FIRST HALF D 28:25 Katrina Rand 1-0 VU 27:51 Sarah DePeters 1-1 VU 26:22 Cecily Pierce 1-2 D 22:39 Cindy Arnold 2-2 D 19:32 Wendy Gallagher Jamie Connahan 3-2 VU 10:20 Jackie Higgins 3-3 VU 8:37 Higgins 3-4 VU 7:08 Megan Carolan 3-5 VU 6:18 DePeters 3-6 D 1:56 Arnold 4-6 D 1:01 Rand Kelly Brady 5-6 SECOND HALF D 28:07 Jamie Kosmaczewski 6-6 VU 27:37 DePeters 6-7 D 26:39 Kosmaczewski Laurie Bean 7-7 D 24:41 Connahan 8-7 D 23:27 Bean 9-7 D 19:44 Bean 10-7 VU 19:24 Pierce 10-8 VU 5:49 Higgins Lauren Ferrara 10-9 VU 3:05 Pierce 10-10 FIRST OVERTIME PERIOD VU 2:43 DePeters 10-11 VU 1:17 DePeters Caitlin Cocks 10-12 VU 0:06 Pierce 10-13 SECOND OVERTIME PERIOD NONE Goals: Drexel - 10 (Arnold 2, Bean 2, Kosmaczewski 2, Rand 2, Connahan, Gallagher) Villanova - 13 (DePeters 5, Pierce 4, Higgins 3, Carolan)

Goalies: Drexel - Shirley Sharker: 66:00 min., 17 saves, 10 GA Villanova - Kelly O'Leary: 35:30 min., 6 saves, 8 GA Brandy Grenier: 30:30 min., 3 saves, 2 GA

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