April 22, 2008

San Jose, CA (UWIRE) -- The SJSU women's lacrosse club beat UC Berkeley 12-11 in an intense game that went into overtime.

Cal's early 3-1 lead evoked pessimism from SJSU supporters.

"We are not doing good offense at all," said Mary Sheehan, mother of SJSU goalie Meg Hallinan. "I've seen games where we score a lot more. We're just not scoring," she said, noting that the teams' skilled defensive play was keeping the score relatively low for a lacrosse game.

For the majority of the game, SJSU lagged by one point. Some of crowd of about 35 spectators could be heard shouting key advisory phrases, such as "get the ball" and "defense," as the score reached 4-2, with Cal still in the lead.

Near halftime, SJSU scored another goal, bringing the score to 6-3, Cal's lead.

Sydney McNamara, a junior advertising major who is also the most vocal member of the team, constantly shouted encouragement to her teammates at the top of her lungs.

"We're coming back," McNamara, 19, exclaimed at halftime as she approached the sidelines for bottled water.

Just after the break, though, SJSU committed an offside violation, which gave Cal possession of the ball - and another goal - bringing the score up to 7-4.

A little more than midway through the second half, after gaining two goals, SJSU rolled around the crease and picked up another goal, followed by another, and brought the score to 9-8.

Initiating the one-point deficit would characterize all but the last few adrenaline-pumped minutes of the game.

"The problem is that they're relying too much on checks than on body positions," said Janna Mirehard, a spectator who said she played lacrosse as a junior at Leland High School.

SJSU seemed to respond to this comment by upping its offense as the second half progressed.

Morgen Crossland made a nimble run across the length of the field, nearly scoring a goal before getting checked at the restraining line.

Melanie Champion followed suit, shooting just over the goal.

Cal gained another point, which Luca Jacobsen answered minutes later with a goal for SJSU, bringing the score to 10-9.

SJSU's next goal, scored in the last few seconds, brought the game to its climactic tie, as the game ended and the decision was made to bring it into overtime.

Both teams added one goal in the first three minutes of overtime, necessitating another three minutes, during which SJSU bagged the winning point.

"I'm stoked," McNamara said. "Most of us are brand new to lacrosse. Some came on the team never having heard of lacrosse."

Katie Sheldon, a sophomore political science major, said she was happy to have a victory to close the season.

"This is cool," said Sheldon, 20. "It's exciting to actually come out with a win for our last game, since we're losing half our players next semester."

Sheldon called the game the Spartans' first official victory.

Stephanie Flowers, a junior creative arts major who organized the lacrosse club, said this was the team's first season.

"It was our first game where we had someone in our level of competition," said Flowers, 21, referencing the fact that both teams are in their infancies.

"A close game is always 10 times more exciting."

She said she had thought SJSU had a 90 percent chance of winning before the game, which she saw as a nice end to her new endeavor.

"I've been working on it all year, sacrificing my grades, money, life," Flowers said. "Next year we'll be going full throttle."

(C) 2008 Spartan Daily via UWIRE