Emmitsburg, MD – The Wagner women's lacrosse program led by four with 12 minutes left in regulation, but a furious rally by Mount St. Mary's tied the game before the Mountaineers won the 2021 Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament Championship in overtime on Saturday afternoon by a score of 9-8, denying the Seahawks a third straight conference title.
Sophomore
Megan Greco led all players with five goals, while graduate student
Megan Drum added two and senior
Madeline Seims added one.
Senior
Erin Kerstetter reached an even 200 points for her career with a pair of assists, while fellow senior
Stefani Peluso and junior
Maria Henwood handed out one helper each.
Junior
Kasey Dorney finished with four ground balls and a game-high four caused turnovers, and junior goalie
Lauren DiStefano had a game-best five ground balls in addition to 12 saves.
Alayna Pagnotta had two goals and two assists for the Mountaineers, Jordan Butler had two assists and three points, and Beanie Colson and Sara Moeller each finished with two goals. Jenna Oler finished with five saves in goal and a team-high four ground balls.
How it Happened
Mount led 2-0 four minutes in, but Greco got things started for Wagner off a feed from Peluso, then Seims tied the game three and a half minutes later with a difficult goal in traffic.
Drum continued the Seahawks scoring charge with back-to-back goals, capping a 4-0 run with 9:19 left in the opening half.
The teams traded goals to end the half, with Greco answering a goal from Moeller, putting Wagner up 6-3 heading to the locker room. Greco continued her spectacular day with two more to open the second half, staking Wagner to a 7-3 lead.
The teams would trade goals again, and was the case in the first half, it was Greco who answered a Mount goal with one of her own, putting Wagner up 8-4 with 18:50 left in regulation.
Pagnotta scored two goals 31 second apart to halve the deficit before lightning in the area halted the game with 11:26 left on the clock. Off the restart more than 30 minutes later, Colson and Moeller scored five minutes apart as Mount came all the way back to tie the game at eight with just under five and a half minutes to go.
With 2:42 left on the clock, DiStefano denied a Mount free-position attempt, in what was the last serious scoring opportunity for either team down the stretch. In overtime, each team had golden opportunities to win the game, as a Mount shot off the post of a wide-open net was followed by a free-position chance from Kerstetter that sailed wide.
With time winding down in the first extra session, Pagnotta found Colson for the championship-winning goal, giving Mount St. Mary's their first NEC crown since they went back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.
Greco, Dorney, and graduate defender
Lindsay Haas were each named to the NEC All-Tournament team.
