HILLBURN, N.Y. - - Trailing by one goal with 14:13 remaining in the second half, the Wilmington University women's lacrosse team scored the last three goals of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest at Dominican to come back for the 15-13 victory at the Torne Valley Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Wilmington (6-3, 3-2 CACC) scored the final seven goals of the first half, but trailed 13-12 after Dominican (3-6, 3-3 CACC) stormed back retake the lead with 14:13 left in regulation on a free position shot.
The Wildcat's Kory Webster finally broke through and retied the game on the team's fifth shot and third free position shot since The Chargers took a 13-12 lead, beating Dominican's goaltender Veronica Iozzi with 6:02 showing on the scoreboard.
Dominican had a chance to regain the lead after claiming the draw control and holding onto possession for nearly three-minutes of game time. The Chargers' KC Jentzen beat Wildcat net-minder Kaitlyn Hall, but was saved by the goalie's best friend as the ball ricocheted off the post to keep the game tied.
Webster was at it again with less than two minutes remaining in the game, as the Wildcat's initial shot of the series was saved, but Jaclyn Hall was able to scoop up the ground ball to keep possession in favor of the visitors. Webster put the Wildcats up for good with her fourth goal of the game by beating Iozzi with 1:42 to play.
The Chargers controlled the following draw control now trailing by one, and got the ball back in their possession as Michelle Fiorvanti picked up a ground ball with 33 seconds to play. But Webster was up to the task once again, as the senior caused another turnover and corralled the ground ball before giving it off to freshman Megan Keffer with 10 seconds left. Keffer put the game away with a goal with three seconds remaining, capping her day off with a hat trick.
Keffer and Jessica Stratton each scored three goals off the bench for first year head coach Jackie Trainer, but the Wildcats were led by Webster who picked up four goals on the day. Molly Taylor added two goals for Wilmington while Liz Case and Jaclyn Hall tallied a goal and an assist in the win. Rebecca Guethler contributed the final mark for the Wildcats, who scored 15 goals on 30 shots. Ashley Kroll and Megan Apgar also helped the Wildcats by adding one assist each in the contest.
Jentzen and Allison Smithwich led all scorers with five goals for the Chargers, while no other player tallied more than one goal for the home team. Traci Muniz recorded three assists while Jentzen added two.
Kaitlyn Hall recorded 11 saves for the Wildcats, moving to 5-3 on the season. Iozzi made 10 stops in goal for Dominican, but fell to 3-4 in goal for the season.
The Wildcats found themselves down early, as the Chargers raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first 5:07 into the matchup. Guethler got the team on the board with a goal at 22:02 and after Dominican made it 4-1 the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run to end the half and go into the halftime break leading 8-4.
Dominican came out and scored the opening three goals of the second half as well, and six of the first seven goals of the second stanza to take a 10-9 lead. Webster gave the 'Cats another lead at 11-10 with 18:36 to play, but the Chargers rallied back with two goals as the teams traded leads multiple times in the second half. Stratton tied the game with an unassisted goal, 12-12 with 15:38 to play before Jentzen gave the home team their final lead, 13-12, with 14:13 to play.
Wilmington returns to action on Tuesday, as the Wildcats welcome CACC leading Georgian Court to the Kirkwood Soccer Complex for a 4:00 p.m. start. Georgian Court is now 5-1 in the CACC after dropping a 12-11 contest at Holy Family on Saturday. GCU took game one of the season series, 14-11, earlier in the season.