POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (April 29, 2017) – Freshman midfielder Tessa Waters scored an unassisted goal 2:06 into the first overtime period, lifting the Vassar College women's lacrosse team to a season-ending 11-10 win on Senior Day from Weinberg Field Saturday afternoon.
 
Vassar finished the season 8-7 on the season and 5-4 within the Liberty League, but due to VC's loss to RPI last weekend the Brewers were eliminated from Liberty League Tournament contention due to the tiebreaker with St. Lawrence University and the University of Rochester. Despite that, the Brewers finished the season on a high note, buckling down late, scoring the last five goals of the game to earn the win.
 
Before the contest, the five seniors of Darby Stahl, Sydney Spadinger, Phoebe Hankins, along with captains Brittany Botticelli and Julia Trudell, were honored for their hard work and dedication to the team. VC came out firing, taking a 3-1 lead after junior Storm Sideleau tickled the twine on an assist from freshman Kelly Pushie.
 
St. Lawrence (8-7, 5-4 Liberty) responded with five straight goals including three straight from Kara Hurley to take a 6-3 lead with 3:53 to play in the opening half. The Brewers would head into the break with some momentum though, as Fiona MacLeod tallied a man-up goal followed with 21 seconds to play in the first half.
 
With the clock ticking down in the opening stanza, it looked like VC would have a two-goal deficit to chase but Waters scored unassisted with 1.4 seconds left in the half to make the score 6-5 heading into the break.
 
After the intermission, VC quickly tied the game with Sideleau's second of the day on a free position attempt at 25:40 of the period make the score 6-6. The Saints chalked up another four goal run over a six-minute period though, as Kiera Taussig posted back-to-back goals and Emma Owens finished the run to make the score 10-6.
 
That's when the Vassar rally would start, as sophomore Emily Hamburger scored from Hankins at 13:51, followed nearly two minutes later by a Grace Goodwin-Boyd score to make the game 10-8 with 12:04 to play. Waters chalked up a free position goal not even a minute later to make the game 10-9.
 
In the following minutes, Vassar would get a yellow card but that didn't affect the Brewers, as VC actually killed off the penalty and scored short-handed as Pushie tallied with help from Trudell to dead-lock the game at 10 with 8:36 left.
 
The final minutes were action packed despite no scoring actually happening over the last eight minutes, as Vassar junior keeper Emily Chancey made four huge saves and also caused a turnover. SLU keeper Olga Lukas was equally as impressive, making a big stop on a free position shot with 1:33 to play.

In the waning moments of the game, SLU had the ball and Hurley burst towards goal with the seconds ticking down. The attacker for the Saints fired, but Botticelli stuck her face in the way of the ball, drawing a dangerous propel yellow card with a second left in the game to give the Brewers a man-edge going into overtime.
 
In the extra period Vassar got another big stop by Chancey, and with four seconds left on the card to Hurley, Hankins found a wide open Waters behind the net. The freshman rolled in front and beat Lukas to her right to win the game for the hosts.
 
Waters finished with a team-best four goals for the Brewers on Saturday, tying Pushie for the team-lead with six shots. Pushie added a goal and two assists, while Sideleau finished with two scores and four shots. Hankins and Trudell added two helpers as well. MacLeod led Vassar with five ground balls, registering two draw controls and two caused turnovers.
 
Botticelli finished her career with four ground balls and three caused turnovers for Vassar, and Chancey chalked up 12 saves in the victory.
 
St. Lawrence got three goals apiece from Hurley and Taussig, and Lukas made seven second-half saves for the Saints. SLU outshot the Brewers on the day 31-24, and had a slight 13-10 edge in draw controls. St. Lawrence posted 40 fouls on the game, as Vassar fouled just 14 times on the day.