MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's lacrosse team picked up a thrilling 10-9 overtime victory on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons rallied to win and improved to 2-6 on the year and 1-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.
The Falcons started the scoring 31 seconds into the contest when senior Ava Karlov (Naperville, Ill.) found senior Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) wide open in front of the net, and McCardle scored on the low shot.
A minute later, junior Katelyn Cardinale (Mount Laurel, N.J.) scored as she charged at the net.
The Rams took advantage of one of many CUW cards on Saturday and scored a woman-up goal to bite into the lead.
CUW struck again a minute later after senior Natalie Mackrell (Florissant, Colo.) wrapped around the back of the net to find Kami McCardle for her second goal of the game.
The Rams scored again with 6:28 left but Emily Robertson scored on a free-position shot with 57 seconds left to give the Falcons a 4-1 lead going into the second quarter.
Cornell struck twice in the second quarter to have the teams tied at four at halftime.
Natalie Mackrell scored on a free-position shot to start the second-half scoring.
Sophomore Emily Robertson (Canton, Mich.) had the ball trickle into the net to give the Falcons a 6-5 lead with 7:14 left in the third quarter.
The Rams scored three goals in the final three minutes of the third quarter to hold an 8-6 lead.
The Falcons tied the game with a goal from Natalie Mackrell in the first minute of the fourth quarter and a free-position goal from Katelyn Cardinale.
Cornell applied some pressure with a goal at 8:00, left, but the Falcons rallied and scored a woman-down goal with 1:25 left on the clock from Katelyn Cardinale off a pass from sophomore Carolyn Bourgeault (Buffalo, N.Y.).
The Birds still had to kill off the rest of the penalty and sophomore Parks Cawthray (Oakville, Ontario) came up with a save on a free-position shot in the final minute to send the game into overtime.
Katelyn Cardinale won the draw control to start the extra session and ended the game with a woman-up goal 50 seconds in, off a pass from Natalie Mackrell.
This was the first overtime game since March 30, 2023, when Kami McCardle netted the game-winning goal against Kalamazoo. Natalie Mackrell also had the assist on that goal.
The Falcons held a 27-22 advantage in shots, with Katlyn Cardinale leading with nine. She also led the flock with five ground balls and four draw controls.
Concordia forced 26 turnovers on Saturday, with freshman Cassie Sego (Racine, Wis.) causing four.
Concordia looks to continue its winning ways on Wednesday at Illinois Tech.
