JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Abbey Buchanan scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse a 13-12 win over No. 9 nationally-ranked Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla. on Friday afternoon. The win is the Chanticleers' first-ever over a top-10 nationally-ranked opponent.
With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 9-6 on the year and has posted back-to-back one-goal wins, while the No. 9 Dolphins fall from the unbeaten ranks to 6-1 on the season.
The largest lead of the contest was three as both teams battled evenly throughout both halves with the Chants only trailing once for just 3:21 overall in the contest.
Coastals' offense was led by
Samantha Courtemanche (2 goals, 4 assists) and
Lauren Cremen (4 goals, 2 assists) who finished with six points apiece. The trio of
Avery Snyder,
Kayla Downey, and Buchanan finished with two goals each while
Megan Bozzi added one goal and one assist.
Defensively, the Chants'
Claire Martell finished with a career-high 13 saves despite allowing 12 goals to the potent Jacksonville offense. The Coastal defense forced 16 turnovers as Martell,
Bethany Bruck,
Megan Busch,
Jordan Gertz, and
Monica Manley each caused one turnover apiece while Bozzi scooped up a team-high three ground balls.
Coastal opened the scoring as Bozzi found an open Snyder in front of the crease for the 1-0 lead with 25:57 left in the first half. With just 53 seconds expiring off the game clock, Cremen pushed the CCU lead to 2-0 off a Downey assist.
Jacksonville's Sarah Elms cut the CCU lead in half at 2-1 with 22:09 left in the first period before Coastals' Snyder would push the Chants' advantage to 3-1 with 19:17 left in the first half. The Dolphins answered with three unanswered goals for the 4-3 advantage as Jenny Kinsey (16:21, 14:57) sandwiched Elms's second goal (15:23) for the only lead the host squad would hold throughout the contest.
CCU's Courtemanche found both Downey (11:36) and Cremen (8:59) to retake the lead at 5-4 before JU's Kinsey (7:23) scored the hat trick to even the contest at 5-5 before both teams defense's dug their heels until the halftime break.
Coastal opened the second-half action the same way as the first by jumping out to a two-goal advantage as Courtemanche filled the back of the net to make it 6-5 with 1:05 expiring from the game clock. Bozzi followed her teammates' lead off an assist by Cremen with 24:10 left in regulation.
The Dolphins answered with a pair of goals as Molly Brock scooped up a loose ball and fired a shot in the net with 25:15 remaining on the clock before Kinsey recorded her fourth goal of the day to even the match up at 7-7 with 24:10 left to play.
The Chants needed just 42 seconds to go back up by two at 9-7. Snyder lined up for a free-position attempt, took one step, and found a cutting Downey who made the net dance for the woman-up goal with 23:10 remaining. With 19:28 left in regulation, Courtemanche found a wide-open Cremen to make it 9-7 for CCU.
Jacksonville cut the lead to 9-8 minutes later as Elms scored her third goal of the contest with 17:33 on the game clock.
Again, Coastal answered with two goals of its own, as Courtemanche pushed the lead to 10-8 with 15:54 left to play followed by the Chants' second woman-up goal as Cremen tickled the net off a Courtemanche assist for the three-goal advantage with 13:03 remaining in regulation.
With 10:36 left in the contest, the Dolphins started a three-goal run to even the match at 11-11. While a woman-down, Kinsey forced a turnover and beat the Coastal defense for her fifth tally to cut the CCU lead to 11-9. Grace Hobson hit Brock with 6:53 remaining to cut the visitor's advantage to 11-10 before she evened the match with her first goal of the year with 4:47 remaining on the clock.
The Chants' Buchanan put Coastal in front 12-11 with 2:26 left on the clock on a free-position goal just seconds before JU's Brock scored the final goal in regulation to even the contest up at 12-12 and force overtime.
Coastal won the draw in the overtime period and immediately pushed the ball into the offensive third. The Chanticleers' offense moved the ball around looking for the open cutter. As Buchanan passed the ball behind the goal to a cutting Downey, the home team's defense collapsed to the ball. A heads-up Buchanan bounced in front of the crease wide open for the game-winner golden goal.
The Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse team will remain on the road as the Chants travel to DeLand, Fla. to visit former ASUN Conference foe Stetson, on Sunday, April 25. The opening draw is scheduled for noon ET.
For complete coverage of CCU women's lacrosse, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWLax (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
