Bears comeback with 4-3 win in 2OT

NEWPORT, R.I. - Junior forward Mackenzie Hatfield (Whitman, Mass.) capped a four-goal comeback for Bridgewater State University with her second of the game coming in the second overtime as the Bears beat Salve Regina University, 4-3, in non-league action at Reynolds Field.

Salve Regina (2-5) scored the first three goals of the game, all in the first half, to build a 3-0 advantage at intermission. Bridgewater State (3-4) enjoyed shooting at the same net as its hosts in the next 45 minutes and knotted the score with three by the 64th minute of the game.

Hatfield's game-winning score also went into the north end goal making all seven goals deposited in that net.

Senior forward Lauren Bulk (Portsmouth, R.I.) scored her second goal of the season at 9:38 with an assist from sophomore Christine Pala (Milford, Conn.).

Sophomore Ellie Dye (La Jolla, Calif.) put her second goal of the into the net from 40-yards out with a powerful kick on a loose ball. Eleven seconds later, the Seahawks had a 3-0 lead when junior tri-captain Anna Shultz (Higganum, Conn.) scored her first goal of the season sneaking in to tap a free kick from classmate Alexis Pike (Smithfield, R.I.).

The 3-0 score, which held through halftime, boosted Salve Regina's season goal total to 16 in seven games, matching last year's total in 18 games. Shultz was one of only three goal scorers for the Seahawks in 2013, and today she became the 10th goal-scorer for the team in 2014.

The Bears struck in the first five minutes of the second half. Freshman Courtney Pepin (Uxbridge, Mass.) scored her second goal of the season when she beat rookie starter Emily Cuellar (Providence, R.I.), making her second consecutive start in net for the Seahawks.

After another dozen minutes, Hatfield scored her sixth goal of the season and first of the game with an assist from junior Brooke Pacheco (Bristol, R.I.). Hatfield used her left foot to stick the ball past the diving Cuellar on the goalkeeper's left side. The game was tied at 3-3 when Carolyn Sessler (Plymouth, Mass.) converted a corner kick with a ricochet off a Seahawk defender that eluded Cuellar at 63:29.

The game remained tied for the final 26 minutes of regulation and, while the Seahawks shot wide three times in the first extra session, for 10-plus minutes of overtime. After a break at the 100-minute mark, the teams changed ends giving the Bears the frame at the side that already had been the site of the previous six goals.

Hatfield got free with a long clear from her defenseman and carried the ball into the top of the box before tipping the game-winner past Cuellar.

Salve Regina ends its season-long five-game homestand with a 1-4 mark including three losses in overtime. The Seahawks play the Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Mass., on Saturday (1 p.m.). Bridgewater State now has won 17 of 20 meetings all-time with Salve Regina; the Bears return home to host Westfield State on Saturday.