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March 13, 2004 | Stats

Sophomore midfielder Moriah Linnell scored with 35 seconds left to give AU a 9-8 win at Bucknell on Saturday.

LEWISBURG, Pa. — Sophomore Moriah Linnell (Antrim, N.H./Contocook Valley) scored her team-high third goal with just 35 seconds left to give the American University women's lacrosse team a 9-8 win at Bucknell Saturday at Graham Field.

Linnell's goal capped a wild, four-goal comeback in the last 11:19 of the contest. The Eagles trailed 8-5 after Bucknell's freshman phenom Katie Edge, the Bison's leading scorer entering the game, tallied her only goal with 17:20 left. However, AU held the Bison scoreless for the game's final 17 minutes and Linnell started American's comeback bid with a goal at the 11:19 mark.

Senior Tara Michael (Owings, Md./South River) contributed a goal with 10:23 left to pull the Eagles within one, 8-7. Five minutes later, attacker Rebecca Copeland (Webster, N.Y./Webster) snagged a feed from Lindsay Cartin (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) inside the eight-meter mark and put a shot home to knot things up at eight a piece.

Linnell's game-winning goal almost didn't come to fruition. The Eagles held possession for much of the last five minutes, but with just over a minute left in the contest AU was whistled for a foul and turned the ball over to the Bison. Fortunately for the Eagles, BU was unable to clear the ball and was called for a foul of their own to give it back to American. After several passes around the perimeter, Linnell corraled the ball in the top right and beat her defender for the winning goal. Bucknell gained possession off the ensuing draw control, but sophomore goaltender Kathleen Finnegan (Arnold, Md./St. Mary's) stuffed a Bucknell chance with just seconds left and grabbed the loose ball to run out the clock.

The game's drama seemed unlikely early, as American scored the first three goals and five of the first seven and appeared headed to an easy win. However, Bucknell answered with six consecutive goals, including three by Meredith Wright, between the 4:59 mark of the opening stanza and the 17:20 mark in the latter period to give the Bison a 8-5 lead and set up the game's exciting final moments.

Wright led BU, which falls to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the Patriot League, with three goals.

Linnell led AU with three goals and added an assists, while Copeland also tacked on an assist, her first of the season, to her two goals.

American returns to action on Wednesday in a non-league contest at La Salle. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.