PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Johnson & Wales University (4-3, 3-2 GNAC) edged Saint Joseph's College (5-2, 1-1 GNAC), 12-11 in overtime, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse contest on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Wildcats held a 6-1 lead with 12:22 left in the first half but the Monks cut their deficit to 6-4 with goals from Josie Ring (Newfield, Maine), Liz Callahan (Scarborough, Maine), and Lydia Dexter (Oakland, Maine) in a matter of two minutes and trailed 7-4 heading into intermission.

Johnson & Wales led 9-6 after Dani Lydecker netted her fourth of five goals on the day at the 21:00 mark of the second stanza, but St. Joe's rattled off four unanswered tallies as freshman Cailyn Wesley (Peabody, Mass.) netted an unassisted marker to lift the visitors to a 10-9 edge with 10:18 remaining in regulation.

Lydecker and Marley Medina struck for the hosts to stake the Wildcats to an 11-10 lead with 6:03 left before Dexter scored her third goal of the afternoon exactly three minutes later to knot the game at 11-11 and eventually force an extra frame.

Unfortunately for the Monks, a turnover in overtime proved costly and Maris DiBenedetto capitalized with the sudden-victory strike with 1:27 left in the three-minute OT frame.

TEAM STATS:

Johnson & Wales held the lead in shots (34-26), shots on goal (22-20), ground balls (21-20), caused turnovers (12-5), and draw controls (13-12) in the narrow victory.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC junior netminder Madelyn Nelson (Casco, Maine) turned away 10 shots in the setback while JWU goalie Emma Crowley made nine saves in the victory.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Dexter tallied three goals, three assists, three ground balls, and two draw controls
• Ring and Wesley netted two goals apiece
• Freshman Erica Irvin (Windham, N.H.) picked up five draw controls

LEADERS – JOHNSON & WALES:

• Lydecker registered five goals, four assists, six draw controls, and three ground balls and took 20 shots – including 10 on goal – in the win
• Medina added four goals and three assists
• Hadley Borkowski contributed two goals, three assists, and four draw controls

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the loss Saint Joseph's falls to 4-4 in the history of the series with Johnson & Wales University.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's is scheduled to play at Norwich University in a GNAC matchup on Monday at 7:00 PM.

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