Edwards Goal Lifts Penn over Duke in OT
by Justin Feil | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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| Penn's Becca Edwards scored with five seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Quakers to a 10-9 win over Duke in an NCAA quarterfinal Saturday. Penn advances to meet four-time defending Division I champion Northwestern in the final four. |
PHILADELPHIA -- Ali DeLuca found Becca Edwards
with five seconds left in the second overtime as the Penn women's
lacrosse team ended Duke's year in overtime for the second straight
season.
The fourth-seeded Quakers (15-2) scored the final three goals of
the game, including the only one in overtime, to overtake the Blue
Devils, 10-9, Saturday in the NCAA quarterfinals at Drexel
University's Vidas Field. The Blue Devils (15-6) staged a
monumental comeback of their own in the second half after Penn held
a 7-2 halftime lead.
"It really helps us get a little fire back to know that we can
score when we need to score and do what needs to be done on
offense," said Edwards, whose fourth goal for the game-winner was
also her 100th career point. "We're pretty excited to keep going
and play in the final four."
DeLuca added three goals and a key caused turnover as Penn
advanced to its third straight final four to take on top-seeded
Northwestern, a 15-9 winner over Princeton, on Friday in Towson,
Md. The Wildcats defeated Penn in the national title game last
year.
The Quakers will go into the rematch with the Wildcats with some
of their swagger back. Penn finished the regular season with their
first consecutive losses since 2006, to Northwestern and Stanford,
then followed up with a tighter-than-expected 10-8 win over
Fairfield in the NCAA first round.
"We didn't play too well in the last two games," said Penn head
coach Karin Brower. "They knew that everything was on the line and
how exciting it was to play Duke, and to beat a team like this to
get the final four means so much."
Penn came inches away from being eliminated when Caroline Cryer's
shot with two seconds left in regulation bounced high off the
crossbar.
"I'll replay that one for a while," said Cryer, who had a goal and
four assists. "I just was trying to get the ball towards the goal.
I didn't know how much time there would be. Unfortunately it was
just inches.
"We put ourselves in position to have a chance at the end of the
game. They didn't fall. I'm proud of our team for battling back. I
think that says a lot about us."
The Blue Devils, playing their first full game without Tewaaraton
Trophy finalist Carolyn Davis, scored seven unanswered goals in the
first 21 minutes of the second half. Duke took its first lead of
the game, 8-7, with 12:31 left when Lindsay Gilbride fed Cryer. The
combination in reverse worked over and over for the Blue Devils,
who built their advantage to 9-7 when Cryer found Gilbride for her
fourth goal of the game with 9:11 left.
"We've been down, but not down by that much," said Duke head coach
Kerstin Kimel. "The fortitude and the character that our kids
showed in the second half battling back was great."
Penn showed resolve, too, in coming back after Duke took all the
momentum. After a Penn timeout, DeLuca took a handoff from Erin
Brennan, spun and fired in her third goal with 7:51 left.
Forty-eight seconds later Penn's Emma Spiro tied it, 9-9, off
another feed from Brennan, the Ivy League Freshman of the Year.
Brennan's go-ahead goal with 4:12 left was waved off by an illegal
stick, and Penn never got another shot in regulation.
In the first overtime, Penn won the draw, but DeLuca slipped while
making a move and Duke picked up the ground ball with one minute
left. The Blue Devils' Gilbride got off a shot from 10 feet that
was stopped by Emily Szelest with eight seconds left. Szelest
finished with nine saves.
Penn won the opening draw of the second overtime, but Duke's Kim
Imbesi saved Spiro's shot with less than two minutes left, one of
her nine saves. DeLuca gave the Quakers the ball back when she
caused a turnover with 50 seconds remaining. After settling the
offense, she found Edwards on the left side of the goal for the
game-winner, Edwards' second overtime goal this season.
"It's not often you get to score an overtime game-winner," Edwards
said. "This one takes you to the final four. This one is
bigger."
Edwards, who suffered a season-ending knee injury early last year,
scored twice and assisted on Brennan's first goal of the game as
Penn built a 4-0 lead in the first 14 minutes. The Blue Devils got
on the board when Emma Hamm found Danielle Kachulis with 15:36
left. Gilbride and Cryer connected 1:23 later, but Duke wouldn't
score again until the second half.
Edwards and Brennan scored on solo efforts and DeLuca scored on a
free position with 2:19 left as Penn built its 7-2 halftime edge.
Duke erupted in the second half, only to again see the Quakers end
its season in overtime.
