HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. ? Junior midfielder Lauren McAfee and junior attacker Jacie Kendall each scored a goal in the overtime period as the Tigers (7-5, 1-2) overcame a strong second half comeback effort by Hofstra University (8-4, 2-1) to edge the 19th-ranked Pride by 13-11 in overtime in a Colonial Athletic Association game at James M. Shuart Stadium on Friday afternoon.

The Tigers, who were playing their first overtime game in two years, outshot the Pride by 3-0 in the overtime period as Towson snapped a two-game losing streak with the victory.  

“It was a great game from both sides,” Towson Coach Missy Doherty said. “We really needed a win and the girls played well at both ends.”

Less than a minute into the first portion of overtime, McAfee converted a feed from senior attacker Meggie McNamara to give the Tigers a 12-11 lead.

With 1:20 left in the second half of the overtime period, freshman goalkeeper Mary Teeters intercepted a pass from junior midfielder Corrine Gandolfi to stop the Pride's game-tying attempt. On the ensuing possession, Kendall scored off a feed from senior midfielder Britt Woodfield, upping the Tigers' lead to 13-11 with 34 seconds remaining.

Led by two goals from junior midfielder Nikki Marcinik, the Tigers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening three minutes of the first half. However, the Pride narrowed the margin to 3-2 with back-to-back goals from Gandolfi and junior midfielder K'Leigh Vanaman.

After the teams traded goals, the Tigers upped their advantage to 6-3 when Marcinik and Woodfield scored consecutive goals with 11:09 left in the opening stanza.

Just over two minutes later, junior midfielder Liz Falco scored on a free-position shot to cut the Tigers' lead to 6-4 at the intermission.

After McNamara scored early in the second half to give Towson a 7-4 lead, Falco responded with back-to-back goals to reduce the Pride's deficit to 7-6 with 24:57 remaining in the second half.

The teams exchanged goals before Marcinik scored her fifth goal of the game, an unassisted marker with 14:36 remaining to increase the Tiger lead to 9-7. But, sophomore Stephanie Rice answered off a Gandolfi feed to reduce the gap to 9-8 with 13:34 left.

Led by two goals from sophomore midfielder Ali Lathroum, the Tigers upped their advantage to 11-9 with 4:39 remaining. But, Gandolfi and junior attacker Ashley Jones tied the game at 11-11 with 2:45 left by scoring a pair of goals.

The Pride had a chance to win the game late in regulation, but Gandolfi threw a pass with 17 seconds remaining which was intercepted by Teeters, sending the game into overtime.

Marcinik, who recorded her fifth “hat trick” of the year with a season-high five goals, now has 99 points in her career. With her next point, Marcinik will become the 20th player in school history to reach the 100-point plateau. Meanwhile, McNamara tallied two goals with a career-high four assists. She now ranks 10th in school history with 40 assists.

Teeters tied a season high by making 14 saves, including eight in the first half, as the Pride outshot Towson by a 35-25 margin.

“Mary was great,” Coach Doherty said. “She has been solid all year and in a game like today, the goalkeeper becomes really important. She stepped up and really did a great job of handling the pressure.”

Gandolfi led the Pride in a losing effort by scoring two goals with three assists while Falco added three goals as the Pride played their third straight overtime game.

The Tigers will return to action on Sunday afternoon when they host Drexel University in the final home game of the regular season at Unitas Stadium. Prior to the 1 p.m. game, the Tigers will honor their seniors. Meanwhile, Hofstra will travel to Delaware on Sunday afternoon. a

Women's College Lacrosse: Towson University 13, #19 Hofstra University 11 (OT)
Towson (7-5, 1-2)  6-5-2 / 13

Hofstra (8-4, 2-1)  4-7-0 / 11

Goals: TOW ? Nikki Marcinik 5, Meggie McNamara 2, Britt Woodfield 2, Ali Lathroum 2, Jacie Kendall 1, Lauren McAfee 1; HOF ? Liz Falco 3, Stephanie Rice 3, Corrine Gandolfi 2, K'Leigh Vanaman 1, Ashley Jones 1, Lauren Whitcomb 1. Assists: TOW ? Meggie McNamara 4, Jacie Kendall 1, Britt Woodfield 1; HOF ? Corrine Gandolfi 3, Courtney O'Connor 1, K'Leigh Vanaman 1. Saves: TOW ? Mary Teeters 14 (66:00, 11 goals allowed); HOF ? Mary Cuddihy 7 (66:00, 13 goals allowed). Shots: TOW ? 25; HOF ? 35. Free-Position Shots: TOW ? 1 for 3; HOF ? 2 for 5. Attendance: 112.

Post-Game Notes:

·         Friday's game between the Tigers and the Pride marked the 26th all-time meeting between the two teams ... With their second straight win in the series, the Tigers lead the all-time series by a 16-10 margin.

·         Prior to Friday afternoon, the Tigers had not played in an overtime game since an 11-10 loss against Loyola on March 28, 2007 ... Meanwhile, Hofstra played its third consecutive overtime game ... The Pride opened their CAA schedule with overtime wins against James Madison and George Mason last weekend.

·         The Tigers were playing their first road game since March 14 at George Washington and are now 4-0 on the road this year ... The Tigers, who played six consecutive games, will play three of their final four games away from Unitas Stadium.

·         The Tigers posted their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent with the victory over Hofstra ... It was their first win over a ranked opponent since defeating 20th-ranked William & Mary by a 16-7 margin in last year's CAA Championship Game.

·         Freshman midfielder Katie Cloud made the first start of her college career against Hofstra on Friday afternoon.

·         With her goal in the overtime period, Kendall extended her point-scoring streak to 15 straight games ... She has also scored a goal in six consecutive outings.

·         Marcinik scored a season-high five goals against Hofstra on Friday ... She has scored four or more goals three times this year.

·         With her goal at the 28:17 mark of the first half, Marcinik scored a goal for the 14th straight game

·         Marcinik also tallied her ninth multi-goal game of the year and her 11th multi-point effort of the season.

·         Marcinik also recorded her fifth “hat trick” of the season and the 12th of her career with three goals in the first eight minutes of the opening half ... It was her first “hat trick” since March 29 against Johns Hopkins.

·         Woodfield extended her goal-scoring streak to seven straight games with a goal in the first half.

·         McNamara has recorded a point in 12 straight games after her assist in the first half ... She has an assist in all 12 of those games.

·         With her goal in the second half, McNamara ended a streak of two games without a goal ... She had scored in eight of the Tigers' first nine games. 

·         McNamara tallied her eighth multi-goal game of the season and the 38th of her career.

·         With her career-high four assists against Hofstra on Friday, McNamara moved into 10th place on the Tigers' career assist list ... She now has 40 assists and passed Jenny Caruso, '86, who had 38 assists in her career.

·         Teeters tied her season high by making 14 saves ... She also had 14 saves against Syracuse on March 17 ... Teeters has posted double-digit saves in five games this season.