LOUDONVILLE, N.Y.– The Marist women’s lacrosse team emerged victorious as they defeated the Siena Saints, 11-10 in a thrilling Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinal matchup Saturday afternoon at the Siena Turf Field.
In a wild game that featured five ties and six lead changes the teams traded goals for the first twenty minutes of the game. Erin Mossop would give Siena a one goal lead early in the first half at the 28:43 minute mark. The Red Foxes then leveled the score with a goal fromKara McHugh (Madison, Conn.) after a nice feed from behind the net from Kirsten Viscount (Smithtown, N.Y.) at 23:41.
Siena would then take the lead at 2-1, 3-2, and then 4-3 before Allison Gionta (Eastport, N.Y.) scored three goals in a three minute span to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 lead by the 4:04 minute mark.
Putting a cap on a nice half for the Red Foxes was Lexi Brannigan(Loudonville, N.Y.), who scored with 1.7 seconds left in the half to give the Red Foxes a 7-4 lead at halftime.
Goals from Morgan Jaycox (Amityville, N.Y.) and Brannigan in the first ten minutes of the second half would give the Red Foxes their largest lead of the game at 9-4 and one that would seemingly be tough to topple.
Four unanswered goals from Siena would cut the Marist lead to just one goal with 4:19 remaining
A crucial Marist turnover with under a minute remaining gave Siena life and a chance to tie the game. After a Saint’s shot went wide with 10 seconds remaining, Siena caused another turnover and scored from a shot in front of the net with just 2.8 seconds remaining.
The Red Foxes tallied the only goal in the two three minute overtime periods when McHugh scored in the first overtime period and gave the Red Foxes an 11-10 lead.
The ending wasn’t without more dramatic play though as the Red Foxes still needed two big saves from Abigail Witczak (Mendham, N.J.) as she thwarted Siena’s first and third possessions in the second three minute OT period.
With the victory the Red Foxes are moving on and will face number one seeded Canisius Friday, May 1st in Buffalo, N.Y with a chance to reach the MAAC Championship game with another win.