PHILADELPHIA - Monmouth's Danielle Rakowitz scored on a free-position shot with eight seconds left in the second overtime to hand the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team a heartbreaking 11-10 loss on Wednesday afternoon at Sweeney Field. Saint Joseph's now stands at 3-6 overall heading into Atlantic 10 Conference action next weekend.
Following a Monmouth foul, Saint Joseph's sophomore attack Emily Bowers was set up with a free-position shot on the left side of the circle with just 1:06 remaining in the second overtime. The shot attempt was saved by Monmouth goalkeeper Katie Donohue, and Bowers was carded for a dangerous follow through to give the visiting Hawks the opportunity to play a player up for the remaining 1:05 of the second overtime frame.
On the next possession, Monmouth cleared the ball down the field and Allison Stathius fired off a shot that hit the post, but Rakowitz would pick up the ground ball for possession. After 20 seconds of strong SJU defense that prevented Monmouth from scoring, the Crimson and Gray was hit with a foul that awarded Rakowtiz the free-position, man-up opportunity. Rakowitz put the ball past Saint Joseph's sophomore goalkeeper Genevieve Giblin for the win.
Tied 9-9 after regulation play, the battle of the Hawks went into the first of two six-minute overtimes. In the first overtime of women's lacrosse, the full six minutes must be played, and if one team leads after those six minutes, that score stands as final.
With just seven seconds remaining on the clock before the squad's would have been forced to switch sides for the second three minutes of the first overtime, Saint Joseph's freshman attack Nora McCallion netted her eighth goal of the season to put the SJU Hawks ahead, 10-9.
However, Rakowitz responded for the Monmouth Hawks as she netted a shot off of a feed from Michelle Gonzales with 1:37 left in the first overtime to send the game into the second overtime frame.
As both teams were tied after the first six-minute overtime, Saint Joseph's and Monmouth went into a "Golden Goal" situation in which the first goal scored counts as the game-winner.
For the game, Saint Joseph's owned a 27-18 advantage in shots, with both second-overtime shots landing on goal, but Donohue made both saves in the final 4:00. The home Hawks also owned a 22-14 edge in ground balls while Monmouth gained possession of 13 of the game's 24 total draw controls.
Sophomore midfielder Kelly Phelan scored a career-high five goals, all in regulation, to spark Saint Joseph's offensive unit and added a team-high three draw controls. Junior midfielder Julia Falcone added two first-half goals and McCallion chipped in one goal and two assists for the SJU attack.
Senior defender Brittany Hanrahan recorded four ground balls and caused four turnovers - both team highs - for the SJU backline.
Giblin (3-6) made six saves, all in regulation.
Monmouth and Saint Joseph's each tallied a goal in the first five minutes of action. Monmouth then added three consecutive goals, but the home Hawks would respond with three consecutive goals of their own with just under 15 minutes left in the first half to tie the score, 4-4. Phelan and Falcone scored two goals apiece in that span.
Monmouth then scored again to jump ahead 5-4, but senior midfielder Michele Granger, Phelan, and Bowers would score within a span of 2:04 as Saint Joseph's closed out the first half with a 7-5 lead.
After Monmouth scored just 12 seconds out of the halftime break, Phelan added her fourth tally of the game to keep SJU's lead at two goals, 8-6.
However, Monmouth's Cassie Campassano recorded back-to-back goals at the 18:16 mark and 6:46 mark of the second to tie the score, 8-8.
Phelan would again be the difference maker for the Hawks as the sophomore registered her career-high fifth goal of the game on a rocket into the upper-left past Donohue to put SJU back up one, 9-8, with just 2:37 remaining in regulation.
Campassano found the back of SJU's net with just seven seconds left in regulation time to send the game into overtime. Campassano finished the day with eight points on six goals and two assists.
Saint Joseph's will open Atlantic 10 Conference action next Friday, April 4 against Richmond. Opening draw is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Sweeney Field.
GAME NOTES: Sophomore attack Emily Bowers has now registered at least one point in 14 consecutive games dating back to April 7 of last season... Freshman midfielder Taylor Dachowski saw a substantial amount of playing time in place of senior attack Val Paolucci, who started the game but has been battling injury; the rookie landed two of her three shots on goal.
