Wednesday, April 6, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – The Mount Ida College women's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaking Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss to visiting Emerson College falling 11-10 in triple overtime sudden death on Wednesday evening in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs, who fell to the Lions in the opening round of the GNAC post-season tournament last year in their inaugural varsity season, snap a three game winning streak falling to an overall record of 6-5 and drop their second GNAC bid standing at a league record of 2-2. The Lions, whose only wins have come via conference games, improve to 3-6 on the year, 3-0 in conference play.
No more than two goals separated the teams for the entire match with the Lions opening up a 2-0 lead following two unassisted scores by Lion freshman Chelsea Phillips (Waterford, CT/Saint Bernard School) in the first five ticks of the game.
The Mustangs answered on two scores by junior Jen Thompson (Easton, MD/Easton), the first on a successful free position attempt and the other on a dish from senior captain Danielle Chuba (Wrightstown, NJ/Northern Burlington Regional), making it 2-2 at the 22 minute mark.
Emerson countered on two successful free position attempts from the sticks of junior's Carmen Chung (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) and Christina Riccitelli (West Haven, CT/Branford) giving the visitors the 4-2 advantage with 16:16 remaining in the first half.
Mount Ida followed suit starting with an unassisted bid from Thompson followed by a Chuba goal on a dish from senior Alexandra Sarno (East Patchogue, NY/Bellport) tying the score for the second time at 4-4.
The scoring went back and forth with the teams exchanging goals all the way down till the final minute at this point. The visitors were first capitalizing on a free position attempt from Phillips for her third goal of the game leading 5-4 with nine and a half minutes to go in the stanza.
At the six minute mark, Mustang freshman Ebony Mills (Harrison, ME/Oxford Hills) converted a free position attempt for her first goal of three on the day knotting the score at 5-5.
The visitors retook the advantage with less than four minutes to go before the break on a bid from Lion junior Krista Firkins (Omaha, NE/Millard West) off a dish from freshman Mackenzie Johnson (Pasadena, MD/Chesapeake) up 6-5.
Mount Ida recorded the final goal of the first half on a good free position attempt from Thompson with a minute and a half to go before the midway point with the score deadlocked at 6-6.
The visitors made quick work of the next goal on an unassisted bid from Phillips within the opening four minutes of the frame leading 7-6. At the 20 minute mark, Mills converted her second score of the contest for the Mustangs on a successful free position attempt locking up the score at 7-7.
Lion freshman Alex Corrado (Sammanish, WA/Eastside Catholic) followed with 17:33 to go in the contest on a dish from senior Laura Miley (Cranston, RI/LaSalle Academy) to lead 8-7. Mount Ida followed with freshman Molly Sheppard (Brookhaven, NY/Bellport) notching her first goal of the season making it 8-8.
Corrado converted again for the Lions on a successful free position attempt with fifteen and a half ticks remaining regaining the advantage up 9-8. Mount Ida would not back off with Mills scoring her third and final goal of the game on a feed from Chuba making it 9-9 with three minutes to go in the contest.
Each team had an opportunity to finish off the game but neither team could find the back of the net sending the game into overtime.
In the first overtime (not sudden death), the visitors struck first on an unassisted goal by freshman Mary Stufano (Sanibel, FL/Fort Myers) taking the 10-9 lead. In the second period (not sudden death), the Mustangs had trouble converting looking as if the game would end with a Lion win. Fortunately for Mount Ida, an outstanding dish off a free position attempt from senior Jeileen Rivera (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) to Chuba for the score tied the game (10-10) heading into the sudden death third overtime period.
Each team had their chances to win the game but it was Stufano who struck on an unassisted goal for the Lions late in the third extra session for the 11-10 nail biting GNAC victory.
Mount Ida junior netminder Katherine Chousa (Norwood, MA/Norwood) denied four Emerson shots while Lion goaltender sophomore Emily Saeger (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) kept her team alive with 12 saves.
The Mustangs will get on the road after a four game home stand to face non-league Framingham State University Monday evening with game time slated for 7:00 p.m.