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March 8, 2004 | Stats

Senior attacker Courtney Bennett scored two goals versus Duquesne Monday, including the game-tying goal with 56 seconds left in regulation, but AU lost in overtime, 10-9.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A furious comeback by American University women's lacrosse team from down four with five minutes left was all for naught as Duquesne scored the only goal in overtime to win, 10-9, on Monday.

The Dukes opened up the game on a tear, scoring the first five goals. However, AU's Moriah Linnell (Antrim, N.H./Contoocook Valley) snapped the streak with a goal at 14:51 of the first period off a feed from Katy Zaweski (Huntington, N.Y./Harborfields). Attackers Rebecca Copeland (Webster, N.Y./Webster) and Zaweski followed that up with goals of their own to pull the Eagles back into the game at 5-3.

Still, Duquesne sandwiched a pair of goals around halftime to take a 7-3 lead. A fortunate play for American, when Duquesne let a loose ball trickle into its own net, made the score 7-4. Copeland was credited with the goal. Tara Michael (Owings, Md./South River) scored to cut the deficit to two, but Duquesne responded with a pair of goals to stretch the lead back to four, 9-5.

Trailing 9-5 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest and Duquesne with the ball, things looked grim for the Eagles. However, sophomore goaltender Kathleen Finnegan (Arnold, Md./St. Mary's) made a huge, point-blank save and then picked off the loose ball to ignite American. Finnegan finished with 10 saves on the day.

Linnell started the comeback for AU with a goal at the 4:21 mark of the second stanza. The Eagles captured the ensuing draw and co-captain Courtney Bennett (McLean, Va./McLean) tallied with 3:57 left to make the score 9-7. Just over two minutes later, senior Nicole McCarthy (Flourtown, Pa./Springfield) scored from her defensive position to pull AU within one. Finally, with 56 seconds left, Bennett scored yet again to knot things up at nine.

American had several chances to win after the Eagles' won the draw, but Caitlin Gorman (Springfield, Va./Bishop Ireton) and Lindsay Cartin (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) both had shots stopped by the Duquesne goaltender in the waning moments of regulation and send the contest to overtime.

The Dukes scored just 24 seconds into the first of two three-minute overtime sessions, and despite three Eagle possessions over the next 5:30 of the extra periods, American could not muster any shots to attempt to tie.

AU falls to 0-3 with the loss. The Eagles return to action tomorrow, March 9, when they face Mount St. Mary's at noon in Orlando.