Katie McGovern scored the game-winning goal with 46 seconds left in the second overtime and tournament Most Valuable Player Hannah Knight recorded 13 saves - two on free position shots 10 seconds apart in the first overtime - as No. 2 seed University of Mount Olive defeated top-seeded and tournament host Limestone College 7-6 in the Championship Game of the 2015 Conference Carolinas Women's Lacrosse Tournament Sunday at Gaffney, S.C. The championship comes in the Trojans' third year of women's lacrosse.
Joining Knight on the All-Tournament Team were McGovern, Alyssa Fox and Claire Wigler.
Mount Olive (15-3) had a chance to win in regulation after Knight made a save with 2:12 remaining. The Trojans tried to play for the last shot, but a foul was called against Mount Olive and the contest headed to overtime.
A Trojan foul led to a free position shot for Limestone just 38 seconds into the first overtime. Knight deflected the shot attempt, but another foul was called against Mount Olive while both teams were going for the ground ball. Knight again deflected the shot.
While her save was an individual play, Knight credited her teammates.
"You have to go into it ready for anything," said Knight, a junior from Rochester, N.Y. "I have great teammates who help me prepare for this every day in practice."
As for having to stop a free position shot 10 seconds after stopping the first one, Knight said, "I just had to be ready to do it all again."
Limestone recovered the ground ball, but Knight caused a turnover. After the changeover, Limestone won the draw and held the ball without making an offensive move until 30 seconds remained in the period. Taylor Cline's shot just before the buzzer hit the crossbar, sending the contest into a second overtime.
The Saints won the draw and again held the ball, but Fox caused a turnover with nine seconds left in the three-minute period. After Limestone won the next draw, Riann Daziel caused a turnover and collected the ground ball with 2:37 left.
Mount Olive called timeout and worked the ball around the outside for more than a minute. Wigler then moved the ball down low to the right of the goal and found McGovern cutting through the middle for the apparent game winner.
McGovern said the goal was not a set play.
"Claire and I made eye contact and she made the pass to me and I shot it," said McGovern, a senior and two-time all-conference first team selection from Babylon, N.Y.
The Trojans' celebration was put on hold as the referee checked McGovern's stick, the procedure after a goal is scored.
"That seemed to take forever," said McGovern. "I knew my stick was okay. I had just checked my stick. I knew the goal was good. We just won! We just won!"
After what seemed to be an eternity for Trojan players and fans, the referees counted the goal and the team poured onto the field in celebration.
After trailing 3-2 at halftime and still down by a goal midway through the second half, Mount Olive began to retake the momentum. Wigler scored with 17:56 remaining to tie the game 4-4, then scored again three minutes later to put the Trojans in the lead. Daziel bounced a free position shot past the Saints' goalkeeper to give Mount Olive a 6-4 lead with 13:51 left. That would be the Trojans' last goal in regulation.
Limestone (14-3) pulled within a goal on Brittany Tyson's free position shot with 11:33 left and Tyson tied the game 6-6 with exactly six minutes left. The contest saw no more scoring until McGovern's game winner.
Wigler finished with three goals and an assist on the game winner. Daziel, who scored four goals in Mount Olive's semifinal win over Pfeiffer, added two goals and an assist.
Knight's reaction after winning the championship likely echoed that of the entire team.
"I'm overjoyed. I'm in shock."