March 9, 2016 - There is still a lot of season remaining for the Concordia-Chicago women's lacrosse team but it would be tough to imagine a game more emotionally charged than today's game between the Cougars and the Eagles of the University of Northwestern (MN). The two sides battled fiercely for 60 minutes with the lead exchanging hands on a couple of occasions. However, the Eagles scored the final go-ahead goal with 65 seconds remaining and added an insrance goal in the waning seconds to emerge with the 12-10 win over the Cougars in St. Paul.

"We had a great effort today, and a lot of good things happened for us," said CUC head coach Brian Patterson. "We were in position to win this, but we have to learn how to close out a game."

A bit of history occurred 2:51 into the game as CUC grabbed its first-ever lead. That came courtesy of freshman Margaret Doane (Glen Ellyn, IL/homeschooled) who finished off a pass from Sydney Fuller (Elkhart, IN/Northridge) for the early advantage. The Eagles then scored the next three goals before  Anna Kellar (Collinsville, IL/Metro-East Lutheran) interrupted the momentum with her second goal of the season. Fuller again picked up the assist as CUC pulled to within 3-2.

Twice, the Eagles regained two-goal leads, but Doane kept the hosts from running away as she answered the goals with her second and third of the game for the "hat trick." However, Northwestern scored the final goal of the half to take a 6-4 lead into halftime.

Patterson's halftime speech to the team produced immediate results as the Cougars scored three straight goals in the first five minutes of the second half. First, it was Kellar scoring 55 seconds in to make it a one-goal game. Then, Sonja Sorensen (Berwyn, IL/Walther Lutheran) kept her season-opening streak alive with her fifth goal (one in each game) to knot the game. Finally, Fuller notched her first goal of 2016 to give CUC the lead at the 25:03 mark. Patterson said of his midfielder, "Sydney has had an excellent start to her season, and it was only a matter of time before she scored her first goal; sometimes, that first one is the hardest one. But she has been doing well all-around, and today's game really showed her abilities."

The teams went for the seven minutes without a score until Doane struck again. The forward's team-leading seventh goal gave the Cougars a two-goal lead, and things were looking up for CUC. However, that euphoria lasted briefly as the Eagles answered just 25 seconds later with a goal to make it 8-7. Northwestern's Grace Daggett than tied the game a little over a minute later and then gave her team a 9-8 lead with her third goal of the game at the 13:15 mark. 

The game's leading offensive players remained hot as Fuller evened the score less than two minutes later. Daggett took the lead back for the Eagles as she scored with 5:05 remaining. But Kellar won the ensuing draw control and needed just 10 seconds to fire the ball past the goalie for a 10-10 tie.

As speculation grew as to whether or not this would be the Cougars' first overtime game in program history, the Eagles earned a late free-possession attempt. Emily Wirtz made good on the shot from just inside the arc, and the Eagles had the lead back with 1:05 left.

While this game had proven that 65 seconds was sufficient time to respond, the Cougars' task became more difficult as they took their third yellow card of the game. This allowed the EAgles to wait patiently for their opportunity. Finally, with just 16 seconds remaining, the home team got the insurance goal and held on for the 12-10 win.

"We're getting closer," said Patterson who also noted the Cougars' misfortune of having three goals disallowed in the game. "But this game tells us we're moving in the right direction, and we'll keep working hard until we get to the point where we can start turning some of these into wins."

The Cougars (0-5, 0-1 MWLC) will head to Waverly, Iowa on Saturday for a Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference game at Wartburg College.