Junior Claire Petersen led the Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team to its first ever win over a ranked opponent. Peterson finished with six goals including the game winner with only nine seconds left, on Saturday against nationally ranked John Hopkins at Homewood Field.
The Seawolves won 15-14 to improve their record to 5-0, a first in program history, under new head coach Joe Spallina.
Petersen finished with nine points: six goals and three assists. This met the program record she shares with teammate, junior Demmianne Cook, for the most points in one match.
Cook added three goals, and junior Janine Hillier and freshman Amber Kupres chipped in two goals apiece.
Junior goalkeeper Hannah Perruccio finished the rest of the game, earning her first collegiate victory.
The game started loudly with 10 goals in only the first 10 minutes. After three early unanswered goals by John Hopkins, the Seawolves stormed back, scoring two goals within only 12 seconds to tie the score at three.
Petersen scored SBU’s final goal of the first half and then kept the momentum going in the second half with unassisted goals at 28:27 and 22:06 to tie the game at 10.
After trading goals for the rest of the second half, Stony Brook found itself in a crucial draw with less than four minutes to play. SBU lost the draw, but, thanks to a forced turnover by freshman Marina Mestres gained back possession.
The offense wound down the clock and gave the ball to Petersen with under a minute left.
Petersen drew a foul and converted the free position attempt to win the game.
Stony Brook looks to keep rolling in a tough game against fifth ranked Duke at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium at 4 p.m. on Monday.