Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/9/23
From Press Release
Fifth-year captain Caroline Curnal had the tying goal in the final minute and scored the game-winner in overtime as the Villanova women’s lacrosse team defeated host San Diego State, 10-9, on Wednesday night.
Kayla Gulmi led the Wildcats (5-1) in points with four while Sydney Pappas and Maddie Luer had two goals each. Goalkeeper Cate Gallagher finished the game with nine major saves. This is the second overtime rally for the Wildcats this season.
The Aztecs (3-6) featured key performances from Philly grads. Sydney Wolfington (Agnes Irwin) had two goals, an assist, three groundballs, and a caused turnover and Deanna Balsama (Washington Twp-NJ) had three goals, an assist, and two groundballs.
The Aztecs outscored the Wildcats 3-2 in the second quarter with Villanova goals coming from offensive threats Pappas and Curnal. Wolfington, Brook Waddell, and Caitlin Jones scored a goal a piece for SDSU in quarter three where we also saw key saves from goalkeeper Sam Horan.
In the second half, Balsama led the Aztecs in points with three goals and one assist. Two of these goals came in the third quarter when the Wildcats outscored the Aztecs 5-4. Other Aztec goals came from Wolfington and Kate Christos while Wildcat goals came from Isabella Francati, Pappas, Gulmi, and Luer. It was a battle to the very end with goals back-and-forth from both teams. The score going into the fourth quarter was tied up at eight.
Curnal kicked off the quarter with a draw control and finished the quarter with the goal that took the Wildcats into overtime. Just when Balsama’s third goal gave the Aztecs the lead with five minutes to spare, Curnal ripped one past Horan to give the ‘Cats six more minutes to fight. This is not the last time she came in clutch!
About two minutes into the overtime period, Luer passed it to Curnal who scored the game-winning goal.