The Stony Brook Women’s Lacrosse team came into Saturday’s game with everything on the right track. They had won 11 games in a row and landed the top seed and hosting rights for the 2014 America East Women’s Lacrosse Tournament.
The Vermont Catamounts came in on the other side in a win-and-in situation when they hosted Stony Brook on Saturday morning.
Up 6-3 with 6:57 to play in the second half, it looked as if Stony Brook was going to eliminate Vermont and make UMBC the tournament’s final qualifier.
Vermont had other ideas, scoring four in a row after this point and surviving a last second free position goal by Stony Brook’s Amber Kupres to come away with an 8-7 overtime victory and the tournament’s third seed.
Jessica Roach started the scoring with a free position goal with 19:32 to play in the half, putting Vermont on the board.
Stony Brook would answer quickly, scoring two goals in the span of 35 seconds to take a 2-1 lead with 15:29 to play in the half. Kupres provided the first of two goals, while Natalie Marciniak gave the Seawolves the lead.
Sydney Mas would score two goals back-to-back, one with 10:58 left and another with 8:03 left to give the lead back to Vermont.
The Seawolves would tie it before halftime on a free position shot by Dorrien Van Dyke.
This would start the 4-0 run that put Stony Brook up 6-3.
Van Dyke started the scoring in the second half with a goal while the Seawolves were man-up. Kupres would add a goal with 20:26 remaining, followed by a score by Courtney Murphy at the 6:57 mark.
It looked at this point as if Stony Brook would pull away in the second half.
That was not the case though, as Vermont would go on that 4-0 run to go up 7-6. The last two goals of the run were scored 24 seconds apart, and the tide was completely turned from five minutes before.
Vermont made a crucial mistake late, however. A foul granted Kupres a free position shot, and she converted in the last second, tying the game at seven and sending it to overtime.
Roach would win it for Vermont with 3:21 left in the extra period, granting her team the last spot in the America East tournament.
Stony Brook, the tournament’s top seed, will play No. 4 seeded New Hampshire at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 2 at LaValle Stadium in the conference semifinals.
The other semi will consist of 2nd-seeded Albany and the 3rd-seeded Catamounts at 7:00 p.m.
The winners will collide in the final at noon on Sunday, May 4, with the winner getting an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The Seawolves are looking to improve on their result from last year, when they lost in the second round to eventual runner-up Maryland.
