WESTON, Mass. – Simmons College's Amy Cronin (Georgetown, Mass.) scored with only :35 seconds remaining in overtime as the Sharks handed host Regis College a heart-wrenching 2-1 setback on Tuesday afternoon in Weston, Mass. Simmons improves to 1-4 on the year, while Regis drops to 0-4.
Regis came out the aggressor as the Pride held an 8-0 advantage in shots and 5-0 edge in penalty corners through the first 12 minutes of action. Simmons was finally able to push the ball over midfield and following a shot by Amy Cronin, Aslyn Dindorf (Fryeburg, Maine) tapped home the rebound on a save by the Pride's Raegan Heck (Phillipston, Mass.) to give the Sharks a 1-0 advantage.
The Pride's Devan Wirtanen (Westminster, Mass.) nearly responded with the equalizer a minute later, but her shot sailed just wide and the Sharks held onto their lead. Wirtanen nearly tied the game at the 11 minute mark when her shot was headed for the back of the net, but Avery Hines (Newburyport, Mass.) jumped in front of the attempt, leading to a Pride penalty shot. Junior Stacy Burns (Waltham, Mass.) tried to go top-right corner on the free stroke, but Simmons keeper Renna Smith (Belfast, Maine) swatted it away to preserve the 1-0 advantage.
Both teams traded shots throughout the rest of the half, but neither team could find the net as Simmons took a one goal lead into the half.
The Pride outshot the Sharks at a 17-9 clip in the opening frame, and also took 10 corners compared to the Sharks' three. Raegan Heck turned away five shots, while her counterpart Renna Smith made 11 stops.
Regis finally entered the scoring column at the 11 minute mark of the second half as a shot by Yasmine Akib (Everett, Mass.) was deflected into the air and landed on the stick of Becka Sarson (York, Maine), who buried a shot to the bottom right of the net to knot the game at 1-1.
Following the goal, Simmons turned up the pressure, outshooting the Pride 15-4 in the period and gaining eight penalty corners to the Pride's six, but neither team could find the back of the cage over the final 20-plus minutes of action. Simmons had a pair of penalty corners with no time remaining, but Heck turned a Monica Doucette (Rockport, Maine) shot away to force the game into overtime.
Like in the first half, Regis came out firing as Wirtanen and Cheyenne Genga (South Windsor, Conn.) each attempted shots in the first two minutes of the extra frame. Regis gained a one player advantage when a Simmons player was sent off the field for a green card, but the Pride could not put the game winner away as Genga missed wide on a shot and then was stopped by Smith with just over 11 minutes remaining in the first overtime.
With just under two minutes to play, Stacy Burns scored what appeared to be the game-winner for the Pride as her backhanded attempt off a pass from Genga went high into the net, but it was waived off, keeping the action going.
Simmons had a pair of attempts thwarted by Heck as she came off her line on two separate occasions during overtime to disrupt a 2-on-1 and 1-on-1 advantage for the Sharks. In the final minute of play Heck would not be as lucky, as Cronin corralled the ball at midfield and took off downfield with only one defender to beat. Cronin used a nifty crossover to lose the Pride defender and then squirted the ball through Heck's legs, chased it down, and buried the game-winning goal on the open net for her first collegiate goal, and a Sharks 2-1 win.
The Sharks rebounded from a slow start to outshoot the Pride 29-27 for the game despite the Pride taking three more shots (7-4) than Simmons in the extra period. Regis held an 18-13 advantage in penalty corners for the game. Renna Smith made 15 saves while improving to 1-4 on the year. Raegan Heck stopped 16 shots of her own in the setback.
The Pride continues the search for its first win of the season on Thursday night when Regis travels to Westfield State University for a 7:00 p.m. face-off. Simmons wraps up a three-game road trip on Saturday when the Sharks travel to St. Joseph's College in Maine for a 12:00 p.m. game.