EMAIL THIS PAGE

Eagles Lose Patriot League Championship Game in OT
Colgate scores winner with 2.3 seconds remaining

May 2, 2004 | Stats

In her last game Courtney Bennett tied things at 10 apiece, but it wasn't enough for a sudden-death overtime as Colgate scored once more.

HAMILTON, N.Y. — American University’s women’s lacrosse team’s hopes for a second-consecutive Patriot League title and subsequent berth in the NCAA Tournament were dashed when Colgate’s Becky Ortolano scored with 2.3 seconds remaining in overtime to give the hosts an 11-10 win over the Eagles Sunday in the Patriot League Championship Game at Tyler’s Field.

The goal came at the conclusion of a wild game in which AU escaped from two one-goal deficits in the waning moments of regulation and in overtime. Trailing 9-8 with seconds left on the clock in the second period, AU’s Moriah Linnell (Antrim, N.H./Contoocook Valley) fell down with less than three seconds left but managed to fire a shot from her knees that found the net and sent the game to overtime. Again in overtime American fell behind by a goal – another tally by Ortolano, which helped her earn PL Tournament MVP honors – but senior Courtney Bennett (McLean, Va./McLean) scored with just 30 seconds left in overtime to knot things up at 10 and seemingly send the game to a sudden-death overtime period.

However, Ortolano corralled a loose ball off a save by the Eagles’ Kathleen Finnegan (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s), one of her three stops in the overtime period, and beat Finnegan to send the home team into jubilation.

The game was back-and-forth throughout, with neither team holding more than a two-goal lead. Colgate looked good early, scoring the game’s first two goals and holding a 2-0 lead five minutes in.

But AU responded with a four-goal run between 19:49 and 11:37 of the first. Linnell tallied three goals during that run, and finished the day with four goals. During the two-day tournament, Linnell scored 10 times on 11 shots and added an assist. Colgate regained its composure and scored two of the next three goals to pull back to within one, 5-4, entering halftime.

American struck first in the second period, just 40 seconds in, when Nicole McCarthy (Flourtown, Pa./Springfield) gave the Eagles a 6-4 lead on an unassisted goal. After Colgate’s Katie McVeigh brought the Raiders back to a one-goal deficit at 23:19, McCarthy again put AU back up by two with a goal from Linnell. However, that was the last two-goal lead either team would enjoy.

Megan Janson and Kelly Winning scored two minutes apart to tie the score at seven with 20 minutes left, and the two teams traded goals the rest of the way to set up the dramatic finish.

American finishes the season 8-9 overall. In addition to Linnell’s four goals and an assist – which gave her 45 points on the season, tied for 10th-most in a single season in AU history – McCarthy had two goals and Bennett, Tara Michael (Owings, Md./South River), Caitlin Gorman (Springfield, Va./Bishop Ireton) and Sarah Milewski (Brookhaven, Pa./Cardinal O’Hara) each scored once. Milewski’s goal was the first of her career, while Michael’s goal gave her 50 points on the season, just the eighth Eagle ever to finish with 50 points in a season. Meanwhile, Lindsay Cartin (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) added an assist, her 17th on the season, good for fifth on AU’s single-season list, just one behind head coach Ashley Flanigan.