LEWISBURG, Pa. – Elaina Ponchione made a save with three seconds left in the game to lift Navy to a narrow 8-7 victory over Bucknell in Patriot League women's lacrosse game Saturday afternoon at sun-drenched Graham Field. Carol Donohue (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) scored twice for the Bison, who jumped out to a 5-1 lead but could not hold on in the final game before next week's Patriot League Tournament.

Bucknell dropped its fourth straight game and fell to 4-2 in the Patriot League and 9-7 overall. The result, coupled with Lehigh's victory over previously-unbeaten Colgate, created a three-way tie for second place as Bucknell, Navy and Lehigh all finished 4-2. Based on tiebreaker scenarios, the Bison will be the No. 4 seed and face No. 1 seed and Patriot League Tournament host Colgate in a semifinal game on Friday. No. 2 Lehigh and No. 3 Navy will meet in the other semifinal, with the winners playing for the championship on Sunday.

The Bison got out to a great start in this one, as five different players scored in the first half. Bonnie Buechel (South Orange, N.J./Columbia), who was honored prior to the game along with fellow senior Catherine Barry (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool), dodged her way past two defenders just 2:09 into the game to get Bucknell on the board first. Only 1:19 later, Chelsea Peters (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) picked up a rebound and scored to make it 2-0.

Patriot League scoring leader Erin Rawlick picked up the first of her three goals soon after to cut the Navy deficit to 2-1, but Julia Braun (Tomkins Cove, N.Y./North Rockland), Michelle Milot (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and Laura Van Schaack (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) all scored in succession for the Bison to make it a 5-1 game.

Bucknell's defense was rock solid, allowing only one goal in the first 25 minutes against a Navy side that was averaging better than 13 goals per game coming in, but the game began to change in the final five minutes of the first half.

With 4:59 left Bison goalie Alyssa DeLorenz (Garland, Texas/Plano East) got a piece of Rawlick's free-position shot, but the ball snuck through and Navy's 20:40 scoring drought was over.

Two key sequences occurred just before and just after the halftime break. In the final minute of the first half Navy was attempting to clear but the Bison broke up a pass at midfield. Two Bucknell players had clear shots at the ground ball but could not come up with it, and Navy retained possession. With 10 seconds left DeLorenz made a tough save on Madison Bell's shot, but again the Bison could not get to the loose ball on the rebound, and Rawlick scooped it up and scored with just six seconds remaining.

The Mids' Mary Ruttum then scored just 56 seconds into the second half to make it a 5-4 game. About six minutes later the Bison again could not pick up a ground ball in its own zone, and Ruttum scored to tie it at 5-apiece.

Navy won the ensuing draw and was on the run, but Barry made a terrific interception to break up the play. Barry tried to start a clear but her pass was intercepted right back Ruttum, who fed Kiersten King for the go-ahead goal. Bell's unassisted goal with 21:56 left was the Mids' sixth unanswered goal, but the Bison were not done.

With 14 minutes to play Braun squarely struck the right post on an 8-meter attempt, but Bucknell got a defensive stop when DeLorenz made an outstanding save on King. The Bison finally cashed in, ending a 28:08 scoreless drought, when Donohue put one past Ponchione to make it a 7-6 game.

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2009-04-18