Riverdale, NY- The Mount Saint Mary College Knights (5-2, 1-0 Skyline) women's lacrosse team opened their conference play with a dramatic 14-13 overtime victory over the University of Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins (2-5, 0-1 Skyline).

The game was a nail-biter throughout, with both teams exchanging leads multiple times. At the end of the first quarter the Knights found themselves down by three goals and were able to battle back within one goal at the half. The third quarter was all the Mount, scoring five goals to the Dolphins three.  Going into the fourth quarter the Mount was up by one and each team scored two goals over the final 14 minutes of the game.  With 12 seconds left, a heartbreaker shot by the UMSV attack found the net, and the game was tied at the end of regulation.

In the sudden-death overtime period, the Knights' defense came up with a huge stop, forcing a Dolphins turnover. Julia McGrinder secured the ground ball and cleared it to the offensive end. The Knights capitalized on the opportunity with the game-winning goal by Victoria Ward, assisted by Kate Crooker.

Head Coach Mike Lowell praised the team's overall effort. "Total team effort today," he said. "Every member of this team contributed to this win. Our defense kept us in this game the entire time. They had a lot of attacks thrown at them and they never let up. Our middies and attacks kept working our game plan and just kept playing to our next goal mentality."

In the net for the Knights was an absolute wall, seeing 38 shots, (30 on goal).  Liz Petrellese added to the defensive efforts of the team and made 17 saves, which kept the Mount in it the whole game.  

He went on to commend the efforts of his defensive lineup, saying "Maggie [Horan], Gabby [DiPalma ], Ella [Garner], Alyssa [Alvarez], Julia [McGrinder], and Bri [Fassett] played a great game on defense and were big contributors to this win."

Key Stats:
•    Mount Saint Mary: 14 goals, 28 shots, 17 saves, 20 turnovers, 16-22 clears
•    University of Mount Saint Vincent: 13 goals, 38 shots, 10 saves, 17 turnovers, 13-16 clears

Leading Scorers:

• Mount Saint Mary:
• Shannon McGowan - 4 goals
• Delisianna Naccarato - 4 goals, 1 assist
• Karlie Ferrucci - 2 goals
• Antonia Licardi - 1 goal, 1 assist
• Victoria Ward - 1 goal, 2 assists
• Erica Schmidgall - 1 goal, 2 assists
• Kate Crooker - 1 goal, 1 assist

The Knights will look to build on this momentum when they travel to take on Vermont State University Castleton on April 1st at 4 pm.