WORCESTER, Mass. – Senior Kelly Casey (Newtown, Pa.) scored a career-best four goals including the game-winner in sudden-death overtime and sophomore Meg O'Leary (Longmeadow, Mass.) tied the school single-game record for assists with six, as the Holy Cross women's lacrosse team defeated Lehigh, 11-10, in double overtime, on Saturday afternoon in Patriot League action on Senior Day. With the win, the Crusaders improve to 3-9 overall (1-3 Patriot League), while the Mountain Hawks fall to 8-4 overall (2-2 Patriot League) and end their six-game winning streak.

Casey also scored the goal that tied the game at 9-9 with only 28 seconds left in the second half to the move the game to overtime, while O'Leary assisted on the game-winner. Along with her six assists, O'Leary scored two goals for a career-best eight points. Her six assists ties the record set by Erin Rowse versus Albany on March 21, 2000. Junior Katie Gardner (Garden City, N.Y.) and freshman Kat Sutton (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) each had two goals and one assist for three points, while junior Ali Baird (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored one goal and had one assist for two points, and senior Calley Benoit (Concord, N.H.) had one assist.

Lehigh was led by Lauren Dykstra who scored four goals and Inneke Carmola who had two goals and two assists for four points.

After the Mountain Hawks took a 1-0 lead, O'Leary tied the game at 1-1 with a goal on a free-position shot. With Lehigh now up 2-1, Casey scored off an assist by O'Leary to tie the game at 2-2. The Mountain Hawks then scored three straight goals to move out to a 5-2 advantage, but the Crusaders responded with two goals to close out the half with Lehigh leading 5-4. Casey found the back of the net off a pass by Sutton and Sutton scored off an assist by O'Leary with 53 seconds left in the half.

Holy Cross scored the first two goals of the second half to take a 6-5 lead. Baird scored on an assist from O'Leary and Sutton also scored off a pass by O'Leary. The Mountain Hawks answered with three straight goals to take an 8-6 lead, but Gardner made it an 8-7 contest when scored off an assist by Baird. With Lehigh up by a score of 9-7, O'Leary scored off a pass by Benoit to make it a one-goal game with 1:38 remaining in the second half. With just 28 seconds on the clock, Casey tied the game off an assist by Gardner, as the contest then went to overtime.

In the first overtime period, the Crusaders took a 10-9 lead with a goal by Gardner off a pass by O'Leary, but the Mountain Hawks then tied the game with just 12 seconds left in the period with a goal by Sara MacIntyre.

After the second overtime went scoreless, the game moved to a sudden-death triple overtime and with 2:00 remaining, Casey came up big again with the game-winner as O'Leary assisted on the goal giving her six assists and tying the school record.

Sophomore goalie Amy Martin (Bloomfield, Mich.) made nine saves to earn the win, while Kelsy Ferris stopped 11 shots. Holy Cross outshot Lehigh, 30-25, while the Mountain Hawks picked up 16 ground balls and went 4-11 on free-position shots, and the Crusaders had 11 ground balls and went 1-7. Holy Cross was strong on draw controls as they earned 18 and Lehigh had seven.

The Crusaders will play the last four regular season games on the road and will return to action on Tuesday, April 7, when they play Fairfield at 4:00 p.m. Before the game, the senior class of Benoit, Casey, Kaitlyn Curley (New York, N.Y.), Lisa Gagne (Groton, Mass.) and Samantha Hallowell (Duxbury, Mass.) were honored for their hard work and dedication on and off the field. This year's senior class has been one of the most successful classes in the history of Holy Cross lacrosse. During their time here the Crusaders won the first two Patriot League Championsthe first two NCAA postseason appearances in the history of the program. These seniors have been a part of 35 wins in their four years.

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2009-04-04