The Beloit College women's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaker to Wartburg 14-13 in overtime Sunday afternoon at Strong Stadium.
The game was a back-and-forth affair with the lead changing multiple times until the golden goal in overtime.
After three goals in just over five minutes to open the game, the Buccaneers came roaring back. Nicole Dolcimascolo struck twice in a row, both unassisted scored to make it 3-2 with 20:18 on the clock. Fiona Milchman followed suit with back-to-back goals the latter of which was a player-down goal at the 16:05 mark that gave Beloit a 4-3 lead. Then it was Dolcimascolo's turn again as she beat the Knights' keeper on two of the next three goals in the game with Kieran Rodning tallying a point on an assist to make bring the score to 6-4 in favor of the Bucs.
Wartburg pulled to within one before Milchman and Dolcimascolo teamed up for a score to push the lead back to two. The back-and-forth continued as the Knights added a tally in the scoring column before Kaitlyn Erickson had the crowd roaring. Picking up the ball in the Bucs' defensive zone, Erickson took off toward the other end of the field. Heading up the sideline, Erickson took it all the way into the eight-meter area and fired finding the back of the net for her first goal of the season and send Beloit into intermission with an 8-6 lead.
The second half opened just like the first with Wartburg notching three goals to relaim the lead 9-8 with 20:45 on the clock. Milchman knotted the game 9-9 at the 18:57 before the Knights took the lead once again.
The Bucs responded with a flurry led by Rodning's goal off a pass from Sy Dragon with 14:55 to play. Less than 30 seconds later it was Milchman finding the back of the net before Rodning struck again 31 seconds later this time off a pass from Dolcimascolo to put the Bucs ahead 12-10 with 13:57 to go.
Wartburg tied it up at the 8:40 mark but Rodning found the back of the net off a perfect pass from Milchman to make it 13-12 Beloit with 4:32 on the clock. The lead was short lived as Wartburg scored 14 seconds later to tie the game 13-13. Neither team could capitalize on offensive opportunities in the final four minutes to send the game into overtime.
As the seconds ticked away in the first overtime, Wartburg gained possession and found an opening just beating the Buccaneer defense with less than 10 seconds left in the overtime period for the win.
For the second consecutive game Dolcimascolo and Milchman combined for nine goals, three assists and twelve points. Dolcimascolo added a team-high eight groundballs and four caused turnovers.
Alexa Arakelian suffered the loss in net recorded nine saves in the contest.
The Bucs will host Aurora University Saturday, April 13 beginning at 1 p.m. at Strong Stadium.
