Bonnies fall in overtime-thriller to No. 14 Oregon, 11-10 :: Late rally spoiled in sudden-death overtime

March 26, 2008

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - After storming back to force overtime, the St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team fell in heartbreaking fashion to nationally-ranked Oregon, 11-10, in the sudden-death portion of overtime in its home opener on a chilly Wednesday afternoon at McGraw-Jennings Field.

The end of regulation saw the score tied a 9-9, forcing a pair of three-minute overtime periods that weren't sudden-death format.

Freshman Christine Hanley gave the Bonnies the lead, 10-9, in the first three-minute overtime with her third goal of the game at the 1:15 mark. After the first three minutes were exhausted, the teams switched ends and played a second three-minute frame. Just 55 seconds from suffering their fourth loss of the season, the Ducks found the back of the net as Jen May completed a hat trick of her own to tie the game at 10-10.

The final 55 seconds saw neither team score, forcing a third three-minute overtime period that was a sudden-death situation.

St. Bonaventure gained control of the opening draw control, but gave away possession with a costly turnover after working nearly two minutes off the clock. Oregon's Ilsa van den Berg scooped up the ground ball and took it the length of the field for the game-winning goal with just 21 ticks left, spoiling a solid team performance by the Brown and White.

"I'm really happy with the way we played today," said first-year head coach Christy Malone. "The girls gave everything they had today and despite coming up just short we can take a lot of positives from this. This was a good test for the upcoming Atlantic schedule."

The loss dips St. Bonaventure to 1-5 on the season. The No. 14 Ducks, who have been ranked since the first week of March, improve to 8-3 with the win.

After being held without a goal for the first time in 19 games at Ohio State, senior Kimberly Ross returned to the scoring column with a team-high four points on two goals and two assists. Hanley's three goals were tops on the club, marking her first career hat trick. Senior Brenna Houghton drew closer to 100 career assists with two helpers, giving her 94 for her career. Sophomore Patty Nessle was the other multi-goal scorer with a pair of tallies.

Senior goalie Eboni Preston was stellar in cage, as usual. The New Windsor, Md. product stopped 15 shots, marking her fifth-straight game with 10 or more saves.

Momentum was on the Bonnies' side to start the game as they rattled off three consecutive goals in the opening four minutes, forcing the Ducks to call at timeout. Ross notched her 10th goal of the season to open the scoring as she took a perfectly-placed pass from Houghton. Hanley started her push for her hat trick with the second goal and sophomore Molly Hastrich made it a 3-0 Bona lead on a free position score.

The game slowed down after the opening fireworks by the home team, as Oregon accounted for three of the four goals in the rest of the half as St. Bonaventure took a 4-3 lead into the break.

Oregon came out firing to start the second half, notching the first five goals of the frame to take its first lead of the contest, at 8-4 with 21:43 to play.

The Brown and White used efficient offensive possessions and stout defense to push their way back into the game. Back-to-back goals by Nessle and senior Megan Murphy cut the deficit in half, 8-6, with 17:09 left.

Lindsay Killian bumped the Oregon lead back to three, 9-6, but it was short-lived as St. Bonaventure made it a one-goal contest, 9-8, with 8:39 remaining. Hanley followed Killian's goal with her second score of the game and Houghton took a feed from Ross to trim the deficit to one.

The next goal took a while to formulate, as both teams gave away several chances to increase the lead or tie the game. After both teams had possessed the ball three times, Ross gathered a ground ball and took in the length of the field for the successful clear. Ross then found Houghton, who drew the Oregon defense to her with a drive and passed back to Ross for the game-tying goal with 2:26 left on the clock.

The Bonnies gained possession of the ensuing draw control, but failed to get a shot off, forcing overtime.

For the game, the Brown and White held a slight 13-12 edge in draw controls, but were plagued by their 20 turnovers. Ross gathered a team-high five ground balls, while Murphy and junior Keri Vito led the way with three draw controls each.

St. Bonaventure will have little time to rest as it hits the road for its first Atlantic 10 matchup of the season. The Bonnies will head to the city of "Brotherly Love" for a clash against Temple on Friday at 3 p.m.