SARANAC LAKE, NY - North Country Community College jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Northampton women's soccer team on Sunday, but the Spartans rallied to win 3-2 in thrilling fashion to improve to 2-0-0 on the season.
After a scoreless 39 minutes in the first half, North Country put the first goal on the board to take a 1-0 lead and then increased their halftime advantage to 2-0 with their second tally with only 5 seconds remaining. The Spartans made some halftime adjustments and came out after intermission and took control of the contest. At the 36 mark of the second stanza,
Erin Happel (Bangor, PA/Bangor) found
Abby Dempsey (Bangor, PA/Faith Christian ), who found the back of the net, to cut the Saints lead to 2-1.
Just 5 minutes later, at the 31:40 mark, a combination play between
Mikayla Garzillo (Bangor, PA/Bangor) and
Wendy Ordonez (Reading, PA/Reading ) created space for Dempsey, who scored her second of the game and 4th of the season. With under a minute to play, great defense by
Megan Corby (Bangor, PA/Bangor) allowed her to find a streaking
Amanda Sroka (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) down the line for a shot that ricocheted off the cross bar to
Lauren Bayda (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) who tapped it in for the game winner with just 9 seconds remaining in the contest.
"Unbelievable ending," commented Head Coach
Scott Cullen, "I'm really proud of the girls, they never gave up today and in the end it paid off in a victory."
Melissa Schnappauf (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) had 12 saves as the Spartans finished their season-opening trip with a 2-0-0 record.
Northampton returns to action on Thursday August 31st when they host Lehigh Carbon Community College at 3:30pm.