Albany, NY—Sophomore forward Sara O'Connor (Rexford, NY/Niskayuna) scored at 7:54 of overtime to give The Sage Colleges a 3-2 OT victory over visiting Oswego State University in a non-league field hockey game at the University at Albany's Alumni Field Tuesday night. The Gators, in just their second season of varsity play, are now even at 6-6 on the year while the Lakers fell to 3-7.
Sophomore Charity Rushinski (Shusan, NY/Salem Central) assisted on the game-winner for Sage, now winners of four of the last five games and five of seven after a 1-4 start. Both O'Connor and Rushinski had a team high four shots each along with junior Hayley Mato (Copake, NY), who also scored. Sophomore Kathryn Gallagher (Hudson Falls, NY) also scored for the hosts.
Sophomore goalkeeper Abigayle Greier (Elma, NY/Iroquois Central) made 12 saves for the Gators. It was her fourth game this season with 12 or more stops. Sage was outshot 22-19 but had an 8-6 advantage in corners.
The Gators had a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period, outshooting the Lakers 7-0 in those first 15 minutes. Mato scored her third at 7:46 and Gallagher scored her sixth of the year off a corner at the 15:00 minute mark to wrap up the strong stanza. Both teams were held to one shot each in the scoreless second period.
Oswego turned it around with a 12-2 shot advantage in the third. Alyssa DeMichael got Oswego on the board at 35:16 with her second of the season and Kathleen Little tied it with #3 for the year at 51:52 with a DeMichael assist. Oswego had the first six shots in the overtime before O'Connor ended it with Sage's first overtime victory of the year, and her 13th goal of the season. The Gators lost identical 3-2 overtime games in the first two games of 2019.
Sage will be on the road this weekend with games Saturday at Washington & Jefferson at 1 p.m. and at Bryan Athyn College Sunday at 12 p.m. The next home game is October 18 vs. St. John Fisher at 7 p.m.
