ERIE, PA - A winning streak had to come to an end Saturday afternoon at Gannon University Field as eighth-ranked Gannon and 10th-ranked Philadelphia collided with a pair of lengthy winning streaks under their belts.

Gannon entered the contest with a four-match winning streak and a six-match home winning streak while Philadelphia rode a seven-match winning streak into town. The visiting Rams scored three times in the span of 1:14 during the second overtime session and earned a hard-fought 11-8 overtime victory, snapping the Lady Knights' overall and home winning streaks.

Gannon looked to have the energy early in the match. Colleen Dixon (Lafayette, N.Y./Lafayette) and Joanna Culkin (Clifton Park, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) scored 13 seconds apart in the contest's first two minutes for an early 2-0 lead. Philadelphia countered with the tying goals 39 seconds apart, but the Lady Knights regrouped with three consecutive goals.

Krista Schunk's (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) 44th goal of the season put the Lady Knights up 5-2 with 11:23 remaining in the first half. Again, the Rams responded with the final two goals of the half, including one with 57 seconds remaining, as Gannon went to halftime with a 5-4 advantage.

Schunk added her second goal of the match 3:06 into the second half to push the home team's lead to 6-4, but Philadelphia controlled play for the rest of the match. The Rams tallied three consecutive goals, grabbing their first lead of the afternoon at 7-6 with 20:57 remaining.

Gannon battled back to tie the match twice in the final 17 minutes. Shannon Pagano (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) knotted the first tie with 16:10 left. After Philadelphia regained the lead, Pagano tied the match again with 1:55 remaining in regulation. The Lady Knights then controlled the draw, but couldn't score the game winner despite getting three shots off in the final 1:20. Two shots sailed wide and one was saved by Philadelphia goalkeeper Elizabeth Hulfish.

Neither team was able to dent the scoreboard during the first overtime session. Gannon out-shot Philadelphia 3-2 in the period, including two great looks with less than one minute to play that resulted in high shots

Philadelphia completely dominated the second overtime, out-scoring the Lady Knights 3-0. The Rams won the initial face-off and Marissa Wisniewski scored the game winner 51 seconds into the period. Philadelphia scored two insurance goals after winning the next two face-offs.

Pagano led the Gannon offense with three goals. Culkin and Schunk added two goals each while Dixon completed the scoring with one goal. Culkin also dished out three assists.

The loss overshadowed a great performance by Gannon goalkeeper Acacia Cook (Clay, N.Y./Clay-NS), who made a career-high 19 saves.

Gannon dropped to 7-5 with Saturday's loss. Philadelphia improved to 10-3 with its eighth consecutive victory. The Lady Knights return to action Wednesday, April 19 against Indiana (Pa.) at Gannon University Field. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Box Score

2006-04-16