ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Hartwick Women's Lacrosse Team battled until the end against conference foe Nazareth, but fell just short in their regular season finale.

THE BASICS

• Final Score: Nazareth 11 Hartwick 10

• Location: Oneonta, N.Y.

• Records: Nazareth (7-9, 4-2 Empire 8), Hartwick (7-7, 3-3 Empire 8)

 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• With the #3 seed in the Empire 8 Tournament at stake, both teams came out with high intensity, doing anything and everything to get an edge over one another.

• The teams exchanged shots on goal but neither found the back of the net in the opening minutes of the game.

• The stalemate wouldn't last too long as Kristen Vaccarelli (Dix Hills, N.Y.) worked her way through the Golden Flyer defense and got the Hawks on the board first with a strike past the keeper with 11:53 left on the clock.

• Nazareth answered back with a goal of their own taking advantage of a man-up situation, a little over a minute after the opening goal.

• Possession was difficult to maintain for both sides as the defenses made their presence felt.

• Kara Anderson (Collingwood, Ont.) evaded several defenders, slicing across the Nazareth defense and rifling one through a tight window to retake the lead with eight minutes left in the first.

• The opposition scored two goals over the next four minutes to go back on top.

• Vaccarelli knocked down her second goal of the game in a man-up situation to bring the game to three a piece with 2:45 on the clock.

• Heading into the second quarter with a tie game, the Hawks got off to a quick start with Anderson notching her second goal of the game, 15 seconds into the quarter.

• Hartwick tacked on one more as Vaccarelli picked up her 12th hat trick this season with a goal at the 13:22 mark.

• Nazareth scored their fourth goal to bring the deficit to one but not for long as Hanna Goodreau (North Reading, Mass.) converted on a free position shot for her first goal of the game to keep the team up two goals.

• The final eight minutes of the half would see the Golden Flyers pick up two goals to knot the game up at six as the tightly contested first half came to a close.

• With the second half underway, Nazareth began to pull away from the Hawks, scoring two more goals to cap their scoring run of four unanswered goals.

• Katrina Marten (Middlesex, N.Y.) drew several defenders towards her, opening a lane for the cutting Anderson, who scored with precision as she picked up her sixth hat trick this year.

• The Hawks' backline continued to swarm the Nazareth offense, holding them to 0 goals for the remaining eleven minutes of the quarter.

• Vaccarelli put on a display of fancy footwork, spinning around and splitting the Golden Flyer defense, giving her enough space to rifle one past the keeper to tie the game at eight with the third quarter coming to an end.

• Nazareth opened the fourth quarter the same way they opened the third with two goals in the first four minutes before struggling to find the back of the net again.

• With time against them, Marten was able to knock down her first goal of the game to pull within one with 6:34 left on the clock.

• A Hartwick yellow card did not deter the offense as Claudia Pollaro (Queensbury, N.Y.) was able to place one top shelf past the keeper to tie the game at 10 with four minutes remaining.

• Regulation came to an end with the horn sounding just before Hartwick could formulate a final shot.

• Hartwick was able to put up two shots in overtime but could not find the back of the net, a final push by Nazareth would prove to be the difference as they scored with ten seconds left as the Hawks would fall in a tight battle.

UP NEXT FOR THE HAWKS

Hartwick will prepare for the Empire 8 Championship Tournament, beginning with a semifinal match up against #1 seed St. John Fisher on Wednesday, May 1st. Time is still yet to be determined.

HARTWICK COLLEGE

One of the oldest colleges in the country, Hartwick has continually evolved for 225 years. The College's exciting new chapter is called FlightPath, a future-focused approach to education. Offering a distinctive blend of curricular, co-curricular and real-world work experiences, FlightPath builds on Hartwick's long history of integrating broad-based studies with experiential learning.

Hartwick College is a nationally ranked independent college of the arts and sciences located in picturesque Oneonta, NY, in the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The College offers 35 courses of study leading to a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree, two master's degrees in the sciences, and a graduate certificate in nursing education. For more information, visit www.Hartwick.edu.