BOX SCORE Box Score

WEST HAVEN, Conn. - The University of New Haven women's lacrosse team, propelled by junior Alexis Gabbe, opened the 2011 season Wednesday afternoon with a 12-10 overtime victory over Molloy College at Kayo Field. The win is the Chargers first of three non-conference battles to open the season. The Lions fell to 2-1 on the season.

The Chargers scored first in the game well into the seventh minute. Gabbe scored her first of the game with an assist from Ashley Ferrandiz at the 7:50 mark. Nearly two minutes later, sophomore Natalie Lierberman gave the Chargers a 2-0 lead. Lieberman also put the Chargers up 3-0 with 11:56 remaining in the first half. The Lions then rallied back with two back-to-back goals to put then down just one. The teams then exchanged goals for the final six minutes of the half. The Chargers scored the final goal to put them ahead 5-3 with 40-seconds remaining in the half.

Scoring took off in the second half as Molloy immediately made it a one-goal game in the opening two minutes. UNH then went on a 3-0 run to open an 8-4 lead just four minutes into the second half. Molloy scored their fifth goal at the 25:41 mark off a free position attempt. New Haven held on to its comfortable three-goal for over six minutes. The Chargers improved their lead to four with 19:10 remaining in the second half with another free position goal from Gabbe. Molloy rallied once again to close the half, scoring five of the final six goals of the half. The tying goal by the Lions came with just over one minute left in regulation from Molloy's Emily Antonette.

The six-minute overtime was quiet for the first two minutes, but Gabbe put the Chargers in the lead once again with a free position goal with 3:48 left in the extra period. New Haven goalkeeper Maureen Spellman kept UNH in the lead just before the two-minute mark with an excellent save off Molloy's Melanie Sosnowski. Ferrandiz added one more security goal for the Chargers with one and a half minutes left as the Chargers went on to secure their season opening victory.

Gabbe finished with a game-high five goals and two assists for the Chargers. Three others, Sarah Magnone, Ferrandiz and Lieberman each finished with two scores. Ferrandiz and Magnone also added one assist each. Kristina Curry added the Chargers final goal of the game. In the net, Spellman tallied 10 saves and faced 27 shots.

The Chargers return to action on Wednesday, March 16 when they travel to North Carolina to take on Queens University. Game time in Charlotte is set for 12 p.m.