Vendel lifts Bulldogs to double OT win

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior midfielder Lisa Vendel (Sandy Hook, Conn.) scored the final two goals of the game, including the winner in double overtime, as the Bryant University women's lacrosse team topped Manhattan College, 8-7, on the road Saturday night.

The Bulldogs (3-1) never had a lead until Vendel's game winner in the 68th minute but saw six different players deposit goals in the double overtime victory. The Jaspers (0-3) saw four players get on the board, as the hosts took a 5-3 lead into the halftime break.

After more than 12 minutes of scoreless action, Manhattan took a quick 2-0 lead on consecutive Domenica O'Brey tallies before senior Olivia McCarthy (Sea Girt, N.J.) put the Bulldogs on the board with a free position goal midway through the opening frame.

Classmate Kimberley Sniffen (Redding, Conn.) and sophomore leading scorer Lauren Descalzo (Hauppauge, N.Y.) would also find the back of the net, scoring just 25 seconds apart to knot the game at 3-3 with 12:43 left in the first. But the Jaspers answered with markers from Claire Roediger and Kelsey Rehain less than a minute apart for the 5-3 halftime margin.

Rehain got back on the board to open the second half, but it was one of just two goals for the hosts in the final 30 minutes of regulation, as the Bulldogs scored four from a quartet of players to draw even once more, 7-7. McCarthy started the stretch with an unassisted goal just seven minutes into the second, and senior middie Katherine Keckeisen (Danbury, Conn.) would bury her first of the season at the 17:11 mark.

Sophomore Nicole Britton (Monmouth Beach, N.J.) equalized a Roediger free position goal just past the halfway mark to bring the Bulldogs back within one, 7-6, before Vendel tied the game with 5:22 left to play in regulation, a goal that would eventually force extra time.

In overtime, Bryant would outshoot Manhattan, 3-1, with Vendel ending the game just 1:03 into the second extra session.

On the day, the Jaspers outshot the Bulldogs, 28-23, and picked up 31 ground balls to Bryant's 20. Senior goalie Brianna Watt (Babylon, N.Y.) made nine saves in the win to 11 from Manhattan's  Christin Fiorinelli. Britton won six draw controls for the Black and Gold with three ground balls and three caused turnovers coming from Lindsay Gilfeather (Pleasantville, N.Y.).

The Bulldogs return to action Wednesday, when they take on Yale in New Haven, Conn., at 3:00 p.m.