MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team bent, but didn't break, Thursday afternoon, squandering a six-goal second-half lead before scoring what proved to be the winning goal with 18 seconds left in a 13-12 non-conference victory over Montclair State University at Rick McCarthy Field.

Eastern (2-3) held Montclair (3-5) 23 minutes between goals in amassing a six-goal halftime lead but had to stave off a furious Red Hawk fourth-quarter rally which tied the game with 71 second left.

With the score tied, 12-12, Eastern got production from two first-year players in Alexa Vizzini (Vernon, NJ) and Sydney Goyette (Westfield, MA) to post its first one-goal win in over two years. Vizzini won the all-important draw after Luciana Ferrara had tied the match for Montclair with 1:11 left, and Goyette later curled in from behind the net off a long pass from sophomore Abbi Parisi (Fairfield) and swept an underhand left-handed shot past Montclair goalie Joey Grotkopf for the go-ahead goal with 18 seconds left.
 

The Red Hawks, looking for their second straight one-goal win over Eastern on the Warriors' home field, had an opportunity to send the match into sudden-death overtime by winning the final draw of the game following Goyette's goal, but turned the ball over in Eastern's offensive end in the final seconds, and Parisi scooped up her game-high seventh ground ball, withstanding a flattening Montclair cross-check (which resulted in a yellow card) as time expired.

Amra Lukovic had given the Red Hawks an early 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the first 5:30 but managed only one more goal the rest of the way as the Warriors reeled off the final seven goals of the second quarter to take a 9-3 lead into the second half. Two of Eastern's goals in that stretch came on extra-man opportunities by Vizzini and senior Shay Ventresca (Oakdale), Vizzini's coming with the Red Hawks two players down due to yellow cards 65 seconds apart.

Montclair, coming off two successive wins, featured six starting freshmen, played without their 19-goal leading scorer and started their backup goalie (who departed in the final minutes of the first half after allowing eight goals). Eastern, however, had four starters leave the game at various points – including two of their top season scoring leaders -- without returning after sustaining an assortment of injuries during the course of the game.

Eastern got points from eight different players, with Vizzini (four goals) and Goyette (three) combining for seven goals, with 122-career goal-scorer Caroline Stent (Weatogue) chipping in two assists in the first half before departing with injury. Parisi collected seven of Eastern's 19 ground balls and Vizzini won four draws, sophomore Emma Oliano (Wallingford) three. Vizzini and first-year player Madison Corbeil (Groton) each caused two turnovers.
 
Sophomore Chelsea Stack single-handedly got the Red Hawks back into the game. Silent through the first 41 minutes of play, Stack struck for four goals during her team's run of five straight over eight minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters that pulled Montclair to within 9-8 four minutes into the fourth quarter. Stack scored three successive goals over a stretch of less than two minutes. She picked up ground balls to score on the first two of the three straight goals, then potted her 15^th of the season off a draw by sophomore Joelle D'Angelo.
 
Lukovic and freshman Luciana Ferrara each had three goals for Montclair, with Lukovic also winning seven draws, as did D'Angelo, who also contributed six ground balls.

Sophomore Emma Alford (West Hartford) evened her career won-loss record at 5-5 by stopping five shots. In relief of Hegewald, freshman Joey Grotkopf turned away two shots, giving up only five goals over the final 33+ minutes.

Eastern hosts Hartwick College Saturday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference match at Rick McCarthy Field.