NORTHFIELD, Vt. -- Senior midfielder Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) tallied six points, including the game-winning goal in overtime to give the Simmons University women's lacrosse team a 9-8 victory over host Norwich University this evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at Sabine Field in Northfield, Vt. The Sharks win their fourth straight for their longest win streak since 2013 and improve to 9-6 overall and 7-4 in league play in their regular-season finale, while the Cadets fall to 7-9 and 4-7.
Simmons secures the fifth seed in the GNAC Championship Tournament and will travel to New London, N.H. to take on number four seed Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday, April 27 at 12:00 p.m. Norwich enters the playoffs as the eighth seed and takes on top-seeded Johnson & Wales University on the same day in Providence, R.I. at 1:00 p.m.
The Cadets opened the contest with six unanswered goals over the first nine minutes of play, before the Sharks closed out the half with the final three goals. Simmons carried its momentum into the second stanza, scoring five straight goals to take an 8-6 margin, before Norwich scored the last two markers of regulation to tie the game.
Cottam scored the game-winner 1:53 into the overtime period to give the Sharks an overtime win over NU for the second year in a row. It was her third goal of the night to go with three assists, four draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover. Senior attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) led all players with four goals and added a ground ball, while sophomore midfielder Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) netted a goal, picked up a career-high seven ground balls, won four draws and matched her personal best with three caused turnovers. Sophomore goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) stopped 12 shots to earn the victory for Simmons.
First year attackers Kate Winstanley (Lansdale, Pa.) and Michaila Furchak (Nyack, N.Y.) each scored two goals and added an assist with Winstanley picking a pair of ground balls and Furchak collecting one for the Cadets. First year midfielder Brynn Mendes (Centerville, Mass.) netted a goal and assisted on another, while coming up with four ground balls, winning a pair of draws and causing three turnovers. Junior goalie Lawson Hayes (Moorestown, N.J.) turned away 10 shots for Norwich.
The Cadets won the opening draw in the extra period, but Cross was able to stop junior midfielder Mary-Kait Mace's (Canton, N.Y.) bid to win the game, with her 12th save of the night. Cottam scored the game-winner for the Sharks just 68 seconds later with 1:07 remaining on the clock.
Norwich scored the first six goals of the night, while holding Simmons without a goal through the first 17:12 of the contest. Winstanley paced the opening run with a pair of goals as one of five different players to score for the Cadets in the opening half. Mace tallied the sixth goal for the Cadets with 21:46 left in the period.
Maiewski put Simmons on the board at the 12:48 mark and scored again just 11 seconds later to cut the deficit to 6-2 for the Sharks. Cottam scored the final goal of the half with 6:12 remaining to make it 6-3 heading into the intermission.
Maiewski continued to serve as the Sharks' offensive catalyst with the first marker of the second stanza coming with 25:25 left in the half. Reinhold and senior midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) each scored a minute apart from one another, before Maiewski gave Simmons its first lead of the night on a feed from Cottam with 17 minutes left in regulation. Cottam scored just 13 ticks later to give the Sharks an 8-6 margin.
The Simmons defense held the home team without a score for a span of 40:49 before first year attacker Michaila Furchak (Nyack, N.Y.) found the back of the net on a set-up from sophomore attacker Emily Schromm (North Attleboro, Mass.) to pull Norwich to within 8-7 with 10:57 to go in the half. Sophomore midfielder Missy Preul (Scottsdale, Ariz.) converted the equalizer for the Cadets with just over four minutes left in the half to effectively send the match into overtime.