PRINCETON--Holly McGarvie nearly saw her team lose an overtime heartbreaker to Johns Hopkins while standing on the sidelines after picking up a yellow card. But the Tigers, and McGarvie, would each take advantage of a second chance to give Princeton a thrilling season-opening win.

McGarvie's one-on-one move and goal with 37 seconds left in the first sudden victory overtime period gave the No. 6 Tigers an 11-10 win over the No. 10 Blue Jays on a blustery Saturday at Class of 1952 Stadium. The Princeton sophomore had picked up the yellow card early in the second three-minute overtime period, but returned to the field early in the final period before her game-ending heroics.

"I was just excited to get back out there," said McGarvie, who had three goals. "There was a chance we were going to lose the game when I was standing on the sidelines, which is never a good feeling."

McGarvie got the chance thanks to the heroics of Katie Lewis-Lamonica, who tied the game at 10-10 for the Tigers (1-0) with 23 seconds left in the second of two three-minute overtime periods prior to sudden death. Hopkins (2-1) had the ball in the Princeton end attempting to stall away a 10-9 victory, but the Tigers forced a turnover to give themselves a chance to extend the game.

"We had to make a big play to get the ball back and we did," said Chris Sailer, Princeton's head coach. "It was nice to get Holly back out there because she's the kind of player who can make a play when we need it."

The Blue Jays also had a golden opportunity to win the game early in the sudden victory period. But Princeton backup goalie Kaitlyn Perrelle, a freshman playing in her first career game, stopped a point-blank free-position opportunity by All-America attacker Mary Key 18 seconds into the period to give the Tigers the ball.

Perrelle, who came into the game with 11 minutes left in the second half, had three saves.

"I thought Kaitlyn Perrelle was really the unsung hero for us giving us a lift when we needed it," said Sailer. "That's just a huge play from a freshman coming in cold in her first game."

Johns Hopkins had gone ahead 10-9 in the first three-minute overtime when Kadie Stamper scored just 17 seconds after the center draw. Princeton then had the ball at the end of that period, but the Tigers could not get a shot off before the horn sounded and the teams switched ends of the field.

McGarvie tied the game for Princeton at 9-9 with six minutes left on another unassisted goal, and neither team would score the rest of the way in regulation. Both Perrelle and Hopkins goalie Amelia Harris had big saves in that time, including one by Harris on Kathleen Miller with four seconds left, and the Tigers had some good fortune when Hopkins' Steph Janice hit the post with 1:36 left.

Neither team lead by more than two goals, though the Tigers would not lead until Miller scored five minutes into the second half to give her team a 7-6 lead. But JHU would then score twice in a 56-second span after that to retake the lead.

Miller then scored her second goal with 14 minutes left to retie the game at 8-8.

The early part of the game was mostly about Key, who finished with three goals and five assists for Johns Hopkins. She had either the goal or the assist on each of her team's first eight goals but was held off the scoreboard by the Princeton defense for the final 30 minutes of the game.

Lewis-Lamonica had three goals for Princeton, while Stamper, Alex Nolan and Sam Schrum each had two goals for Hopkins. Princeton outshot the Blue Jays 32-29.

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2007-03-03