Box Score
Middlebury, VT…The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse team opened their run to collect their third straight NCAA Division III Championship on Saturday on the campus of Middlebury College. The Lions needed three overtimes, but collected the 8-7 win over SUNY Cortland to move into Sunday's regional championship game against Middlebury College, which beat Drew on Saturday, 19-2.
Sunday's regional championship game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start with the winner advancing to the 2007 NCAA Division III Semifinals on the campus of William Smith College (Geneva, NY), May 19-20. One team will see a streak come to an end as TCNJ has been to the NCAA semifinals for all 23 years of the tournament, while Middlebury has gone for the
last 13 years they're been eligible.
With the win, the Lions now stand at 12-2, while the Red Dragons finish the season with a 15-4 record after falling to TCNJ twice this year.
Junior Karen Doane (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) scored with 24 seconds left in the fourth overtime to lift The College of New Jersey to an 8-7 win over Cortland State.
Cortland came out flying, taking a 3-0 lead in the contest before junior Toni-Anne Cavallo (Cedar Grove, NJ/West Essex Regional) put TCNJ on the board with 9:09 left in the first half with a bounce shot. The teams exchanged the final two goals of the half, leaving the Red Dragons with a 4-2 lead at the intermission.
Andrea Venditti scored with a nice pass from Ali Bourgal on a free position to increase the Cortland lead to 5-2 early in the second half. TCNJ would then score four of the next five goals to tie the game at six.
Junior Kristin Zucconi (Marlton, NJ/Holy Cross) scored on the inside, before Doane scored twice to tie the game at five. Gina Fazio scored with a quick move and a low shot to regain the Cortland lead before Cavallo tied the game at six with 58 seconds let to play.The game-tying goal came as Doane's shot hit the near post before Cavallo scooped up the rebound and scored.
Cortland won the draw in the first overtime and held the ball until the 38-second mark, when Ali Bourgal cut through the middle and scored. TCNJ won the draw control and moved the field quickly, but a free position shot from Doane was saved by Cortland's Deanne Abell.
The Red Dragons again won the draw control to start the second overtime and held the ball until the one-minute mark when they turned it over. Doane was able to capitalize and score with 20 seconds left to force the game into sudden death overtime.
Cortland won its third straight draw control to start the third overtime, but were unable to score and would turn the ball over. Abell would make another save in the period before TCNJ had the ball with a minute to play. A free position shot by Cavallo was blocked with 41 seconds left, before Doane drove hard to the right side before scoring the game-winner.
Doane led the Lions with four goals and an assist, while Cavallo added a pair.
Junior goalie Caitlin Gregory (Winslow, NJ/Eastern) ended the afternoon with six saves. Bourgal, Venditti and Jessie Fritz each scored two for Cortland, while Jennifer Willis had three assists. Abell ended the day with a dozen saves in goal.
