Sophomore forward Gitana Gotay scored in the opening seconds of the second overtime period to give Miami a 3-2 victory over St. John’s Sunday afternoon in Jamaica, NY.
Thirty-six seconds into the second overtime, sophomore midfielder Jenna Johnson found Gotay five yards out who knocked in the game-winner pass goalkeeper Tina Fogg.
The Hurricanes improve their record to 8-4-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the Big East. St. John’s falls to 6-3-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play. With the win over St. John’s Miami moves into first place with 13 points in the Northeast Division of the conference. No. 10 Connecticut took a break from conference play on Sunday they have 12 points.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring in the 13th minute of play when Allison McWhinney connected on a Vonda Matthews goal-line pass for her sixth goal of the season.
St. John’s found the equalizer in the 65th minute off the foot of Kaitlin Schmidt on a pass from Theresa Bulman. Erin Henderson would give the Red Storm a 2-1 lead three minutes later when she connected on a cross from Reina Dominica. Schmidt was also awarded an assist on the play.
However, Miami send the match into overtime when Johnson scored her fourth goal of the season with just a minute left in regulation. Johnson knocked in a rebound in front of the net on a shot from McWhinney.
The Hurricanes out-shot St. John’s 20 to 10, including a second period 11 to 5 advantage. Additionally, Miami’s defense held the Red Storm without a shot in the overtime periods.
The victory came two days after a tough loss to the 10th ranked Huskies, who shut out Miami, 5-0 in Storrs, Conn. UConn’s leading scorer Kristen Graczyk recorded a hat trick in the shutout over Miami. Graczyk also recorded nine shots in the first half and put two past Hurricane goalkeeper Rachel Elsby in the first four minutes of play.
Graczyk’s first goal came just 3:28 into play. Teammate Jennifer Sullivan placed a corner kick in the box and Graczyk, with her back to the goal spun around and headed it in. A mere 20 seconds later, Graczyk scored unassisted as her shot lobbed over Elsby’s head.
Graczyk finished her hat trick with a second unassisted tally at the 71:17 mark of the game. She placed another just out of reach of Elsby.
UConn scored again just over two minutes later when Sullivan received a crossed pass from Salla Ranta and shot it to the left side of the net to continue the shutout. Rookie Kristine Lundberg scored the Huskies’ final goal.
Miami tallied 12 total shots, while the Huskies finished with 19. Elsby made seven saves in 76 minutes of action, while backup goalie Jessica Keller played 13 minutes in goal.
Miami returns home to face Seton Hall on Friday, October 11 at 7 p.m. at Cobb Stadium.
-Compiled by the Sports Information Department.