NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Southern Connecticut women's lacrosse defeated Georgian Court, 18-17, in a late fourth-quarter comeback, in a non-conference matchup on Saturday afternoon. Southern improved to an overall record of 3-2 and an NE10 record of 1-1. Georgian dropped to an overall record of 3-4 on this season.
Kirsten McIntire had a huge day for the Owls, as she scored a career-high of seven goals, which included the game-tying goal and the assist to the game-winning goal at the end of the fourth quarter. In addition, she was 7-for-7 with shots on goal and had a team-best of eight points against the Lions.
Alexandra Ruel,
Allie Palmer and
Abigail Nolan each had two goals. Ruel had three points as Nolan and Palmer both had two points of their own.
Morgan Reilly,
Amelia Mansfield,
Savannah Feinberg,
Allie Welder and
Anna Meserve all had a goal for Southern Connecticut. Reilly led the team with two assists and had three points. Goalkeeper
Caelan Connors made five saves against Georgian Court.
Kirsten McIntire scored her first goal of the day within the first few minutes of the game, unassisted. From there, Georgian Court answered with four goals of their own; as
Alexandra Ruel scored her first of the day. The first quarter ended in the Lions' favor, with a score of 4-2.
In the second quarter,
Abigail Nolan started the scoring for the Owls, to tie the game within the first minute of play. Georgian Court responded with three straight goals, halfway through. Southern looked to come back as
Amelia Mansfield scored with eight minutes left. After that, the Owls would score three goals to end the half, with a second goal from Nolan and two more goals from McIntire. The score was evened out at 7-7 for both teams.
In the third quarter, the Lions came out of the huddle, ready to go by taking the lead early on. Their momentum only grew stronger as scored five goals within 10 minutes of the quarter. However, the Owls weren't giving up as
Savannah Feinberg and
Allie Palmer, decreased the Georgian Court lead, to only three. Nevertheless, the Lions scored two more times and
Kirsten McIntire scored once more, to end the third quarter, 14-10 in favor of Georgian Court.
In the fourth quarter, Georgian continued to score on their possessions as they extended their lead to 17-10. With 6:54 left on the clock, Southern Connecticut began their final come back of the day with a goal from Anna Maserve. A minute later,
Allie Palmer scored her second goal of the day and then just seconds later,
Morgan Reilly scored her first goal of the game. Southern cut the Lions' lead to 17-13 with five minutes left.
Alexandra Ruel recorded her second goal with 3:40 left on the clock.
The Owls knew that momentum was on their side and could feel the lead within their grasp.
Kirsten McIntire scored her sixth goal of the game, to bring Southern within one goal of the Lions. With under a minute remaining, McIntire fired a shot past the goalkeeper and recorded the Owls' game-tying goal. The scoreline evened out at 17-17, for both teams. Southern Connecticut got a free-position shot with 11 seconds left as it went wide but the Owls recovered it, passed it to
Kirsten McIntire who then passed to
Allie Welder in front of the goal, who scored with no time left on the clock. Southern Connecticut won 18-17 over Georgian Court, in a exciting, late fourth quarter come back as they scored eight unanswered goals in six minutes.
The Owls will travel to Laurinburg, N.C. for a non-conference matchup against Saint Andrew's at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13.
