MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior Paige Pascarelli broke the fifth and final second-half tie with her fourth goal of the match to lift the Connecticut College women's lacrosse team to a 13-12 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Tuesday.

There were four ties and two lead changes in the final 19 minutes of the match before Pascarelli scored an unassisted goal with 58.4 seconds left for what proved to be the winning goal. Trailing by one goal, the Warriors commited an unforced turnover with 36 seconds left, with sophomore Cookie Smith scooping up the ground ball and the Camels ran out the clock.

Eastern (6-5) trailed by four goals, 8-4, three minutes into the second half but scored four straight goals – the first two on free-position goals by sophomore Taylor MacDonald (Oak Bluffs, MA). Junior Natalie Sims (Carle Place, NY) scored her third goal of the mach on an assist from classmate Sara Barrett (Bourne, MA) with 7:31 left to give the Warriors their final lead of the match, 11-10.

MacDonald of Eastern tied the match at 12-all with 1:15 left with an unassisted goal – her third goal of the match – moments after the Warriors chose to pass the ball rather than shoot on a free-position opportunity. Eastern was called for a violation on the ensuing draw, and Pascarelli took advantage of the opportunity by scoring the game-winning goal 17 seconds later.

In addition to her goals, MacDonald had four ground balls and won four draws and also caused three turnovers. Senior Meghan Harris (Bedford, MA) matched MacDonald with four ground balls and Sims shared the team lead by winning four draws.

Sophomore Sara Christopher followed Pascarelli by scoring three goals to pull her into a tie for her team scoring lead, with 17. Senior Lindsey Coit won four draws for Conn, which is unbeaten all-time in five matches against Eastern.

In her first collegiate start (second appearance), Conn freshman goalie Angela Giordano made seven saves, five coming in the second half and several coming in the final ten minutes when Eastern threatened to pull away. Junior Joslin Wells (Marstons Mills, MA) made nine saves for Eastern, eight coming in the second half when she faced 14 shots.

Eastern visits Wellesley College Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

2008-04-15