Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Rutgers women's lacrosse (3-3) evened its record for the season with a thrilling 9-8 overtime victory at Drexel Saturday afternoon. The Dragons (3-2) roared back from two goals down in the final two minutes of the game to force the extra period, but with 1:10 left on the clock senior captain Amanda Turturro connected with junior attacker Kerri Puckhaber, who scored the sudden victory game-winner.

"We fought hard until the end when things weren't necessarily going our way," said head coach Laura Brand-Sias. "While it wasn't pretty, we grew a tremendous amount today."

Junior goalie Bianca Dente came up with a huge overtime save to keep Drexel off the board and accumulated nine total stops on the afternoon while surrendering just eight goals. The Yorktown Heights, New York, native collected a game-high four ground balls in the winning effort.

RU enjoyed its largest lead of the game, 6-3, early in the second half after leading scorer Nicole Kopyta notched an unassisted strike to make it 6-3. Drexel's Nadia Pelham-Lacey, who posted a game-high seven points (4g, 3a), heated up the Dragon attack, scoring two of three-straight goals to tie the game at 6-6 with 13:24 remaining.

With her team trailing again down the stretch, Pelham-Lacey, a Preseason All-CAA selection, assisted on consecutive goals to Maggie Stetson and Devin Nihill to tie the game at 8-8 and force overtime.

However the Scarlet Knights closed the game on top, earning a huge win in advance of matching up with No. 19 James Madison (5-1) next weekend in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Junior Alana Navaroli had a day for the record books, winning a career-high nine draw controls to come one shy of tying the program record. The nine draw controls is the second-highest total among Big Ten players this season. Overall, RU won the draw battle 13-7.

Paige Paratore, Puckhaber and Kopyta each tallied two goals to lead the team.

The Scarlet Knights hit the road next Saturday for a matchup at No. 19 James Madison at 1 p.m. The Dukes will carry a live stream of the match via Madizone Video.

GAME NOTES
• In the first meeting between the two teams since 1993, RU prevailed against Drexel. The win ties the series, 3-3.
• RU posted its best free position percentage of the season, going 4-for-5.
• Navaroli collected a career-high nine draw controls, second only all-time to former Scarlet Knight Ali Steinberg's 10 registered on April 30, 2010 against UConn. She now leads the team with 17 on the year.
• Kopyta has now scored multiple goals in each of Rutgers' first six games, leading the team overall with 13.
• Kristina Dunphey caused a team-high two turnovers and is tied for the season lead with six.
• Paratore recorded her second multi-goal game of 2017 and added an assist to become the fifth Scarlet Knight with at least 10 points.

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