Lacrosse (W)

March 30, 2016

Women's Lacrosse Rallies Late to Stun Coker on Salay's OT Winner

HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- Nicolette Salay (Columbus, N.J./N. Burlington Regional) scored at the death of the first overtime period to give visiting Catawba a 15-14 win over Coker in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action on Wednesday afternoon at the Coker Athletic Field.  The Catawba Indians improve to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the SAC, while the Cobras fall to 4-5 and 1-4.

Salay's goal capped a comeback for the Lady Indians, who trailed 14-10 with five minutes remaining in regulation.  The Lady Indians had been outscored 8-3 over the first 25 minutes of the second half then ripped in four goals in less than two minutes to pull even.

Salay started the spurt with 4:38 to go and Megan Shortt (Kernersville, N.C./E. Forsyth) followed with 3:57 left to make it 14-12.  Erin Green (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) trimmed the deficit to one at the 3:13 mark and Shortt capped the comeback with 2:47 to go on a free-position shot.

Bethany Davis (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) had a save with 1:30 to go to keep the game tied and Catawba had four shots in the final 40 seconds to win it in regulation.  Cassie Dodge saved three of those, including two on free-position tries.

Catawba won the draw control to start overtime and Salay missed an early shot.  Inside the final 30 seconds Kennadi Holt (Kernersville, N.C./E. Forsyth) caused a turnover and the Lady Indians cleared.  Holt had a shot that was saved with six second left, but Salay beat the horn with the dramatic winner.

Meredith Jones (Barnesville, Md./St. Johns Catholic) led Catawba with six goals and added an assist.  Salay and Shortt each had three goals.  Davis notched 17 saves in goal for the Lady Indians.  Haley McCusker posted six goals for Coker and Dodge recorded 11 saves.

The teams went back and forth in the opening half.  Coker scored the first two goals before Catawba pulled even.  The Cobras would go back on top with two goals from McCusker before Short and Kirstyn Kruse (Sagamore Beach, Mass./Williston Northampton Prep) tied it.  Jones tied it twice for Catawba before Gracie Wolfman's (Georgetown, Texas/Georgetown)goal with six second left in the half put the Lady Indians up 7-6.

Jones staked Catawba to an 8-6 lead in the opening minute of the second half, but Catawba would not score again for over 20 minutes.  During the drought, Coker went on a seven-goal run to lead 13-8 with 12:53 remaining.  Jones finally broke the dry spell with 8:32 left.  McCusker's goal at the 7:20 mark gave Coker its 14-10 edge.

Catawba heads to Wingate on Saturday for a noon SAC contest before starting a four-game home stand on Monday.

Box Score