Coastal Carolina women’s lacrosse nets first Big South tournament victory

It had taken nearly three years for the Coastal Carolina women’s lacrosse team to earn its first Big South tournament victory.

A 30-second review ensured that wait would last at least another six minutes.

After having a potential game-winning goal negated via a stick check in the final seconds, the Chanticleers rallied in overtime for a 15-11 win over Campbell in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament at CCU Soccer Field.

Sara Nolan’s goal off a free position attempt with one second left was challenged by the Camels, and it was deemed her stick was illegal, negating what would have been a 12-11 win in regulation.

Keri White scored two of her four goals in overtime and the Chants blanked Campbell 4-0 in the two three-minute extra frames to advance to the conference semifinals after achieving their first tournament win in program history.

“It’s an awesome feeling. Our kids were so excited,” CCU coach Jaime Sellers said. “With each year that passes we get farther and farther. It was a huge first for us.”

It was also a stressful one.

“They were all celebrating and happy. They thought they won the game,” Sellers said of her players’ reaction at the end of regulation. “It was 30 seconds of frustation, and then they said, ‘You know what, let’s go win the game in overtime.’

“… I think calls like that can give you momentum or wreck your momentum.”

The Chants left little doubt in extra time, controlling possession while enacting an aggressive style. White scored less than a minute into the first extra period and added another with 12 seconds left. Haley Kyger added another goal midway through the final extra frame and Jen Cosgrove scored into an empty net with four seconds left.

“We were just going to attack right off the first whistle,” Sellers said. “We said, ‘Let’s not ease up.’ A lot of time teams will hold the ball and hold for the last shot. We decided not to take that approach; we just attacked for the whole six minutes.”

Cosgrove finished with a game-high seven goals and Nolan and Charlotte O’Leary each added one, and Jenna Stover made 10 saves in goal.

“It was a very even win,” Sellers said. “Our offense and defense really supported each other and we’ve been working on that all year. I really think our team did that today.”

Next up for Coastal is a meeting with Liberty, the second seed, in the semifinals in Rock Hill on Friday.

“The hard work is coming to fruition and it’s really nice to see that happen, especially at this point in the season,” Sellers said.

The Chants lost 18-8 to the Flames in Conway earlier this month. However, much has happened since then and Coastal is riding momentum – and emotion – from a historical win Tuesday night.

If anything, the win proved Coastal isn’t shying away from adversity.

“They showed a lot of heart and passion when that call didn’t go our way,” Sellers said. “That really gave us the momentum we needed to go into overtime to finish off a convincing win.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina women’s lacrosse nets first Big South tournament victory."