No. 13 West Chester Wins OT Thriller Over Mount Olive, 12-11

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Tatum Altman (North Brunswick, N.J./North Brunswick) scored 39 seconds into overtime to lift No. 13 West Chester to a come-from-behind 12-11 victory over Mount Olive on the road Wednesday afternoon at the Ray McDonald Complex.
 
West Chester (5-0), which trailed early on 4-0 and later 6-2, battled its way back to a tie game early in the second half and played a see-saw contest with Mount Olive (7-2) the rest of the way.
 
Altman took a feed from Sami Barnett (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) right in front, wheeled around and fired a shot past Mount Olive goalkeeper Samantha Thomson from point blank range.
 
The Spartans' Jordan Shaugure gave the hosts a brief 10-9 lead with 12:44 remaining. However, West Chester netted a pair of tallies 11 seconds apart with 2:36 and 2:25 remaining to take an 11-10 advantage. Barnett picked up a hat trick on the day with the first of the two crucial scores while Maggie Stella (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) put the Golden Rams ahead with an unassisted tally shortly thereafter.
 
Shaugure then sent the game into overtime with a marker with 57 seconds left. There were six ties and seven lead changes after the first 30 minutes of play.
 
Stella and Lexi Einsig (Reading, Pa./Exeter Twp.) posted her first college hat trick as well. Stella also won 10 draw controls for the visitors, notching her second straight game in double figures in that category. All 12 of West Chester's goals were scored by a total of four people with three each. Altman joined Barnett, Stella and Einsig with a hat trick on the day. Barnett added a pair of assists for a team-best five points.
 
Julianne Clemens (Springfield, Pa./Springfield-DELCO) made four saves in relief of starter Nicole Martins (Bethlehem, Pa./Saucon Valley). Clemens played the final 38 minutes in the cage to pick up her second win of the season.
 
Mount Olive countered with just four goal scorers on the afternoon. The two teams combined for 23 goals, but only eighth different players were involved in the scoring. Jackie Kaderabeck, Shaugure and Michaela Ciciarelli each registered three goals while Kiara Burke had two. Thomson made eight saves, going the distance, in the cage.
 
West Chester returns to the Keystone State this weekend when the Golden Rams continue their current road trip with its conference opener at Slippery Rock on Saturday at 1 p.m.