TOWSON, Md.–The Penn women’s lacrosse team battled back from a a three-goal deficit in the second half to claim a thrilling 9-8 overtime victory against Duke in the NCAA semifinal on Friday night at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md. Senior Rachel Manson capped the come-from-behind victory with the game-winning goal with 42 seconds remaining in the second overtime period. The goal came off Giulia Giordano’s free position opportunity and her quick pass to Manson wide open in front of the goal.
“I am really proud of the girls after being down 7-4 and staying composed,” said Head Coach Karin Brower. “We were struggling coming up with the draw but made a couple changes and got the ball so we were able to run our offense and have those opportunities [to score]. I’m really proud of our defense, they did an excellent job.”
Manson’s two goals were bookends for the game as she scored exactly one minute into the game, and with 42 seconds to go in the overtime period. However, after Manson’s tally, Duke’s Carolyn Davis scored the first of her five goals. Sarah Bullard scored just less than a minute later to take the lead. It took Penn nearly 50 minutes to regain the lead.
Duke controlled the ball for a good portion of the first half and held a 4-3 lead at the break. Melissa Lehman scored with 12 minutes to go in the half to close that period’s scoring. Duke had the last shot of the half, but Sarah Waxman made a big save to keep it close going into the break.
Waxman was impressive with seven saves and four of the Blue Devils’ goals coming on difficult free-position shots. Possibly her biggest save of the day came with 24 seconds left in the first overtime. Lindsay Gilbride, who had scored two other goals in the game including the one to send the game to overtime, fired a great shot on goal but Waxman made an even greater stop.

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