WINTER PARK, Fla. (March 4, 2009) – Six Tars put points up
on the scoreboard as second-year program Rollins College defeated
seventh-ranked Gannon University 15-13 in an overtime thriller on
Wednesday evening in Winter Park, Fla. With the win the Tars
advance to a mark of 2-1, while Gannon kicks off their 2009
campaign at 0-1.
Junior midfielder Marissa
Giannerini led the way in goals as she notched four, all of
which in the second half, to help the Tars to their triumphant
evening. Behind Giannerini were sophomore standouts Liz
Connelly and Katy
Tyszko with three and two goals, respectively. Both returning
veterans tallied assists throughout the night, as Connelly tabbed
one and Tyszko supported on four to lead the team with six points
overall.
Freshmen Cat
Kelley, Bizzie Durrell, and Tori
Snow contributed to the goal count as they scored three, two
and one to round out the evening, while Mallory
Surpless registered two assists of her own to contribute to the
win.
Seeing a total of 66 minutes in cage was senior goalkeeper Lisa
Weber, who saw a total of 26 shots, making 10 saves and
grabbing three ground balls to anchor the back end. Connelly
sparked the Tars in the midfield as she snatched a total of seven
draw controls to ignite the offense.
The Golden Knights were led by senior midfielder Colleen Dixon
with six goals, while senior attacker Krista Schunk tallied four
goals and one assist for five points on the night. Senior
goalkeeper Acaia Cook made nine saves to help Gannon hang as tough
opposition throughout the entire contest.
In a battle that saw the score tied nine times and the lead
change five times, to say that the competition was close is an
understatement. Gannon put themselves up on the board early in the
game as Dixon placed the ball between the pipes just a minute into
play. But Durell answered back three minutes later after a quick
assist from Connelly to put the Tars on the scoreboard as well and
even out the score at 1-1.
The two teams went goal for goal throughout the next seven
minutes, and after a Connelly score from a Surpless assist to even
out the score at three, Rollins jumped out to their first lead of
the game as Tyszko fired one to the back of the net with 12 minutes
to go in first half action. The two teams went goal for goal once
again and entered into the half with the scored tied at five.
Gannon came out of the break with goals on their mind as Dixon
notched two quick tallies and Schunk registered a third to put the
Golden Knights up 8-5 with 23:35 to go. But Giannerini fired-up
Rollins as she fired a pass from Tyszko into the cage, and then
notched another unassisted goal 15 seconds later to bring the
deficit to one.
Connelly and Tyszko worked together to grab the equalizer with
21:28 remaining, and with the score tied at eight the back and
forth battle would ensue once more to bring the score to nine
apiece.
Giannerini grabbed two straight goals once more to help the Tars
pull ahead 11-9 with 14:57 to go, but Gannon fought hard to pull
themselves back into the action and with 4:15 left on the clock the
score was fixed at 12.
Two minutes elapsed before Dixon could help the Golden Knights
pull ahead 13-12, but with 52 seconds to go in regulation Tyszko
found an assist from Surpless and placed the ball perfectly to
tie-up the game at 13-13.
The following draw control was won over by the Golden Knights,
but a stingy Rollins defense helped strip the ball away, and as the
Tars looked to clear the ball down field a Rollins timeout was
called with just 32 ticks left on the clock. After the break the
Tars moved carefully, but a saved shot with just three seconds left
kept the score tied at 13 and moved the game into overtime
action.
Kelley and Connelly pulled out two unassisted goals in the first
round of overtime, and the Tars held Gannon throughout the entire
six minute OT period as Rollins silenced the Golden Knights for
good with a 15-13 final score.
The Tars will be back in action on Tuesday, March 10 when they
take on Queens University of Charlotte in an 11:00 a.m. home game.
Fans can stay up to date on all of the latest women's lacrosse
action at www.RolllinsSports.com.
