Laurinburg, NC – Pfeiffer senior Kelly McConnell (Woodbridge, VA) netted the game-winning goal with 55 seconds left on the clock to propel the Pfeiffer University women’s lacrosse team to a 15-14 Conference Carolinas over the Knights of St. Andrews Presbyterian College on Thursday afternoon. The Falcons won their second straight game improving to 9-6 overall and 7-3 in the conference. The Knights lost by one goal for the third time this season (all by the same 15-14 score), falling to 9-7 and 6-5. Junior Heidi Karaskiewicz (Glen Burnie, MD) scored a game-high six goals for Pfeiffer. All six of Karaskiewicz’s tallies were unassisted goals with the majority of them coming on the same move. She started each play by going right, then use a spin move to beat the defender to the left, before finishing off each play with an accurate shot from short range. Kerrie Brown (Irondequoit, NY), who ranks eighth in the nation with 5.25 points per game, was the Knights leading scorer with five goals and one assist for six points. Karaskiewicz broke an 11-11 tie with two straight goals in the 70-second span to give the visitors a late two-goal advantage. The Knights looked to be in trouble as they continued to trail by a pair and then had to play a player-down after being called for a three-minute penalty with less than four minutes left. However, the Knights kept fighting and Brown and sophomore Alexis Goldman (Winter Springs, FL) tied up the game on two consecutive player-down goals in a 25 second outburst, deadlocking the score at 13-13 heading into the last three minutes. Senior Krissy Bentolila (Potomac, MD) put Pfeiffer back on top with 2:56 to play, but Brown responded with her fifth goal of the day on a tough angle shot from the right side with one minute and 17 seconds left in regulation. St. Andrews won the ensuing draw control but senior Patty Hunter (Rockville, MD) caused a turnover and sophomore Alex Cook (Commack, NY) picked up the ground ball. Cook then brought the ball into the offensive third for Pfeiffer before dishing the ball off to McConnell, who then stuffed away the game-winner on an open shot from in front of the circle. Bentolila won the next draw control and the Falcons were able to run out the rest of the clock. Pfeiffer took more shots, 35-21, but Knights senior goalkeeper Eryn McCaffrey (Cicero, NY) made a game-high 15 saves. The Falcons also held slim 18-15 ground ball and 17-14 draw control edges. SAPC committed more turnovers, 17-13. McConnell finished with a hat trick while Cook and Bentolila each had two tallies. Cook also had two helpers for a four-point performance. Bentolila added one assist while junior Jamie Livingston (Winter Park, FL) and freshman Liz Melesh (Annapolis, MD) scored the Falcons other goals. Sophomore Amanda Smith (Leesburg, VA) chipped in with a game-high five draw controls. Freshman goalie Caitlin Ryan (Perth, Australia) had six saves in the victory. Goldman registered a hat trick for St. Andrews while sophomore Kim McDaniel (Joppa, MD) scored twice. Both Goldman and McDaniel had one assist. The Knights got their other goals from senior Courtney Ross (Newark, NY), freshman Chelsea Ross (Newark, NY), senior Katie Wright (Waterloo, NY), and freshman Cara Manas (Harwood, MD).
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