SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's lacrosse team overcame some early adversity in Tuesday afternoon's PSAC opener against IUP to hold a two-goal halftime advantage but could not stave off the Crimson Hawks in the end, dropping a 16-14 overtime decision from Robb Sports Complex.

Tuesday's contest was a game of runs, with the two teams frequently exchanging territorial advantages.

Shippensburg (2-2, 0-1 PSAC) fell behind 5-2 in the first half before head coach Ashley Manion called a timeout to talk things over with her team. Trailing 6-3 with 12 minutes 28 seconds remaining in the first half, the Raiders responded with five consecutive goals to take an 8-6 lead. Sophomore Bennett Widlake scored two of her three goals in the game during the run.

SU entered halftime with a 9-7 lead thanks to a nifty play in the waning moments before intermission. On a play near the left side of the IUP box, sophomore Kayla Dalzell caused a turnover with a well-timed swipe of her stick. Junior Lindsey Kennedy picked up the resulting groundball and deposited a shot into the back of the net with just two seconds left on the clock to put the Raiders up by two.

IUP (3-1, 1-0 PSAC) scored the first three goals of the second half to take a 10-9 lead but was then held scoreless for the next 14 minutes of play. Consecutive SU tallies by senior Lauren Hauck, junior Roxanne Brown and freshman Sheila Johnson – the latter of which came on a man advantage, put the Raiders up 12-10 with 7:08 remaining.

The Crimson Hawks had another big run in them, however, scoring four straight goals over the next four minutes to build a 14-12 advantage. Johnson scored her third goal of the game for the Raiders with 2:21 to play, but the home team still needed one more goal to force an extra session. SU took advantage of a poorly timed offensive rush by an IUP player to pick up a groundball and race up the field in the final minute. After drawing a foul, Hauck scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season to knot the score with 28 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Liz French controlled the final draw of regulation to help set up another SU scoring chance. Dalzell was awarded a free position attempt just four seconds before the horn, but her shot was blocked and rolled away from the cage to result in overtime.

IUP won the crucial opening draw of overtime and took advantage of a man-up opportunity to score just 58 seconds into the extra session. Despite losing the next draw as well, SU had two offensive chances in the overtime session but could not find the back of the net. The Crimson Hawks picked up a groundball with 2:27 remaining and controlled possession until scoring on an empty net with 13 seconds to go. The Raiders had pulled the goaltender to bring an extra defender into the zone in an effort to cause a turnover.

SU lost senior goalkeeper Meghan Kearney to injury just over 10 minutes into Tuesday's contest. Kearney entered Tuesday's contest having not missed a minute in goal for 41 consecutive games dating back to her freshman season. Meanwhile, senior Ali Cross was shifted from her starting attack position into the goaltending role by virtue of being the only other player on the roster with experience at the position. As a freshman, Cross was the goaltender for one half of a 16-7 victory over Seton Hill in a game played in Colorado on Mar. 7, 2009.

Despite the amount of time between goaltending appearances and her inability to have any real preparation for being thrust into a new role, Cross was excellent working between the cage, making seven big saves and also intercepting several passes from the circle to finish with three caused turnovers.

Widlake was stellar for Shippensburg on Tuesday, recording her first hat trick this season (third of career) to go along with five draw controls, three groundballs and one caused turnovers. French also recorded five draw controls and had four groundball pickups. Senior defender Meagan Borgoyn led the Raiders in the game with five groundballs.

In addition to Johnson's hat trick, Kennedy, Dalzell and Hauck finished with multiple goals. Kennedy had four groundball pickups and two caused turnovers. Freshman Courtney Kennedy also added a goal and an assist.

Shippensburg will travel to West Virginia on Thursday afternoon for a 4 p.m. matchup with Wheeling Jesuit.