Women Lose To Lions In Overtime

Rachel Lerma's overtime goal in the 94th minute lifted Emerson (2-2 GNAC, 4-3-1 overall) to a 2-1 win over Suffolk University (2-2 GNAC, 3-3 overall) Saturday in a women's soccer game at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The teams faced off in overtime after a hard fought 90 minutes, which saw plenty of heavy rain. With just under seven minutes remaining in the overtime, Emerson's Lisa Viccione cleared the ball out of the Suffolk zone. Realizing the ball was heading right for the goal, Suffolk's Samantha Stellmach (Portsmouth, NH) quickly came out of the net to catch the ball off a bounce.

Unfortunately for Stellmach and the Rams, the slippery conditions caused her to lose control of the ball and Lerma was there to steal it and score the game.

Suffolk held a 1-0 lead midway through the second half until Emerson's Kendra Davidson forced overtime with an unassisted goal in the 69th minute.

The Rams' first-half goal came courtesy of Leslie Hayden (Ross, California) as she faked out two Emerson defenders to put it past Baileigh Wirzburger in the 16th minute. It was the freshman's eighth goal of the season. Gina Dean (Revere, MA) and Emma Lobozzo (New Gloucester, ME) picked up assists on the play.

Emerson out shot the Rams 16-1 in the second half and 23-10 for the game. Wirzburger had six saves in the win for the Lions. Stellmach finished with seven saves, it was her first loss of the season in net for the Rams.

Suffolk will take on St. Joseph's (Maine) at Dilboy Stadium Tuesday at 4:00 pm as it looks for its third conference win of the season.