SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Hannah Seifried scored a season-high five goals on Saturday, including a golden goal at the 4:22 mark of overtime, and
Gabby Savarino posted career highs of four goals and nine draw controls to propel the Shippensburg University lacrosse team to a 12-11 victory over Bloomsburg in a riveting Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup at Robb Sports Complex.
Shippensburg (4-7, 4-6 PSAC East) notched its first home win over Bloomsburg (6-4, 6-4) in 10 years on the strength of a 17-9 advantage in draw controls that allowed the Raiders to maintain a healthy share of possession. The Huskies had won eight of the last nine meetings in the series entering Saturday.
Seifried's five goals are a season high and one short of her career high set last season at Lock Haven. Her goals were timely; in addition to her golden goal, Seifried scored twice in the final 38 seconds of the first half – including a buzzer-beater – to give the Raiders a 6-3 halftime advantage. SU held the Huskies to just one goal in the opening 22 minutes of play.
Bloomsburg responded by holding Shippensburg scoreless for a 19-minute span of the second half, scoring four times to take an 8-7 lead. The Raiders countered with a 3-0 run to take a 10-8 lead, but then the Huskies countered with a 3-0 run to take an 11-10 lead with 2:33 remaining.
Savarino's fourth goal also was quite timely – with five seconds remaining in regulation she willed a free-position shot past Husky keeper Angela DiPasquale to even the score and send the match into overtime.
The opening three minutes of overtime went without a tally, with DiPasquale stopping a late long-range bid from Seifried before the teams switched sides. SU won the second overtime draw and had possession but lost it after a caused turnover by Anna Dempsey. However, an errant pass by DiPasquale was scooped up by Seifried and kept the Raiders in the offensive zone. After directing traffic and a couple of quick passes, Seifried took a feed from
Addie Kalama and ran toward the goal, maneuvering around a couple of defenders to fire home the winning shot.
Seifried finished with five goals, a season-high four groundballs, four draw controls and a caused turnover. Savarino had a caused turnover and a groundball in addition to her four goals – her nine draw controls are the most by a Raider since Valerie Hertz had nine at Gannon on March 16, 2019.
Hannah Raines opened the scoring with her first goal of the season.
Kayla Jones and
Alana Cardaci also had tallies – Cardaci had a second goal wiped out due to an illegal stick. Freshman
Bailey Krahl added two assists – she leads the team with 15 assists this season.
Freshman
Ally Weneta had another excellent effort in goal, making 11 saves (including five on free-position shots). Weneta scooped up three groundballs. She has made 11 or more saves in four straight games. Defenders
Madi Jones and
Clairanne Chairs combined for seven groundballs and two caused turnovers.
Senior
Jessica DeMarte added three draw controls and
Hope Shearer had one. Kalama and senior
Maddy Siejk combined for five groundballs, and each had one caused turnover.
Bloomsburg got three goals and two assists from Kate Roberts and a hat trick from Anna Dempsey. Abby Bergman had a goal and four of the nine Husky draw controls. Lana Paulo and Tiffany Diachynsky combined for seven caused turnovers and seven groundballs.
Saturday's win marks the third time in the last six meetings in the series that a game has been decided by a golden goal. Bloomsburg claimed the 2018 matchup, 17-16, while Shippensburg claimed the 2016 matchup, 13-12.
Shippensburg hosts Kutztown at 1 p.m. Saturday for its final home match of the regular season.
