MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The 24th-ranked University of Mount Olive women's lacrosse team escaped an upset bid by Slippery Rock University with a 12-11 win in double overtime Wednesday in a non-conference game from the Ray McDonald Sports Complex.
 
Slippery Rock suffers its first loss of the season in heartbreaking fashion to drop to 3-1 on the season. The nationally ranked Trojans improve to 5-2 overall.
 
The Rock jumped out to a 7-2 halftime lead after outscoring Mount Olive 5-1 in the second period and outshooting the hosts 15-11 in the first half.
 
The Trojans rallied right back into the game with a 5-0 run in less than eight minutes to open the third quarter, tying the game at 7-7 with 7:21 to play in the third. They took their first lead of the half at 9-8 with 1:26 to play in the third to take a one-goal lead to the final quarter.
 
Mount Olive pushed its lead out to its largest of the entire game at just two goals with an 11-9 lead with 3:23 to play in the fourth quarter, but couldn't put SRU away.
 
Isabella Buono scored with 2:11 to play and Lauren Searles found the tying goal with just 23 seconds left in regulation to force overtime with the score tied at 11-11. The Rock had one shot at winning the game in regulation, but Charleigh Rondeau's shot missed the target.
 
Slippery Rock outshot Mount Olive 4-1 in the first six-minute overtime period, but could not find the game-winning goal. Trojan goalie Anna James made two saves in the first extra session, while SRU missed the cage on two other shot attempts.
 
The Rock won the draw control to start the second overtime period, but turned the ball over late in their possession without getting a shot off. Mount Olive raced down the field and scored the game-winner off the stick of Caroline Clark with 3:59 to play in the second OT period. The winning goal marked the only shot on goal of the two overtime periods for Mount Olive.
 
Buono and Searles each scored three goals to net hat tricks while leading the attack. Rondeau added one goal and one assist and pulled down a game-high nine draw controls. Rachel Mahoney, Brooke Wisniewski, Erin Melcher and Maddie Blazey all scored one goal, while Camryn Whipple handed out one assist to round out the point scorers.
 
Gillian O'Rourke made 11 saves in goal, including four in the fourth quarter to give The Rock a chance to tie the game and force overtime.
 
Mount Olive got five goals and one assist from Logan Hibbard and two goals from Clark. James made nine saves in goal, none more important than the two in the first overtime period.
 
Slippery Rock posted a 17-10 edge in draw controls, while Mount Olive managed advantages of 33-27 in total shots and 20-12 in ground balls.
 
The Rock will look to bounce back Saturday when they travel to Lander in South Carolina for a 1 p.m. non-conference game. The Bearcats were listed in the "teams receiving votes" section of this week's national poll.
 
 



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