Seahawks match program mark for wins with thrilling OT victory versus Bison

DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Sarah Livingston (Westford, Mass.) scored with just under 15 seconds remaining in overtime to propel Salve Regina University to an exciting 14-13 victory over Nichols during a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's lacrosse matchup on Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Seahawks match their program record for wins in a season, improving to 9-3 overall while evening their conference ledger at 2-2. The Bison slip to 4-7 on the year and 0-5 in league play.

The game-winning score was the sixth of Livingston's career, making her the program's all-time leader. The trio of Livingston, junior Jennifer Jones (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and junior Kelly Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) each found the back of the net four times while Livingston also scooped up five ground balls. Sophomore keeper Josie O'Reilly (Middletown, R.I.) had a game-high six ground balls as junior Danielle Malconian (Belmont, Mass.) and senior Mara-Lise Owen (Germantown, Md.) pitched in with four apiece. Freshmen Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) and Sarah Woods (East Lyme, Conn.) each caused a pair of turnovers for the visitors.

Senior Krista-Jean Forand (Plymouth, Mass.) and first-year Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) led the Bison with four goals on the day as Senior Chelsea Shaughnessy (Halifax, Mass.) filled the stat sheets with three goals, an assist to go along with six draw controls and four caused turnovers. Sophomore Julie Monroe (Whitman, Mass.) collected five ground balls as senior goalkeeper Danielle Mott (Cranston, R.I.) and rookie Stephanie Mathewson (Simsbury, Conn.) corralled four each.

The game featured nine lead changes and 10 ties while neither team would have more than a two goal advantage at any given time. With Salve Regina in front 3-2 after 13:07 of play, Nichols went on a three goal run capped off by an unassisted tally by rookie Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) at 17:31. Livingston and Forand then traded tallies before the Seahawks reeled off three goals to end the first half with a 6-5 advantage.

Salve resumed the scoring at 1:02 into the second half for the visitor's largest lead of the contest. Beginning at 2:42, Murphy scored her 26th and 27th goal of the season to bring the game to a 7-7 stalemate as Forand used a free position attempt to give the Bison the 8-7 edge as 23:55 showed on the scoreboard. The game would be extremely close for the remainder of the period as Shaughnessy would give the Bison an 11-10 lead with 8:32 to go. Burke kept the Seahawks alive with a goal with 2:32 left in regulation.

Four of the five goals in the overtime came in the first segment of the session. Salve Regina struck 37 seconds in as Woods put the visitors in front 12-11. Murphy knotted the game up 20 seconds later. Shaughessy then put the Bison ahead for the final time with 3:45 remaining. Twenty seconds later Burke made the game an even 13. Livingston then delivered the heroics with less than 15 seconds on the scoreboard.

O'Reilly amassed a game-high 12 saves for Salve Regina as she collected the victory. Mott completed the day with eight stops for the Bison.

Both teams continue CCC action on Saturday. Nichols ventures to Curry for an 11:00 a.m. showdown while Salve Regina will host Gordon at 4:30 p.m.

Release Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information