Boxscore

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - After two overtimes and a pair of penalty-stroke series, the University of Delaware field hockey team posted a 3-2 victory over William & Mary during a Colonial Athletic Association marathon on Friday night.

Tori Karsten (at right) scored a goal in the second half and was successful on both of her attempts during the shootout to lead Delaware (3-7, 2-1 CAA). Alexis Esbitt also scored her team-leading fourth goal of the season to help send the game into the extra sessions.

The Blue Hens had to battle courageously just to send the game into overtime after William & Mary (2-8, 1-1) posted a 2-0 lead at halftime. Fourteen minutes into the second half, Esbitt got the Blue Hens on the board after redirecting an initial shot by Florence Sijbrandij into the back of the cage.

Still down by one, Delaware kept up the pressure. Eventually, with just under 14 minutes remaining in regulation, the Blue Hens earned a penalty corner. On the play, Karsten slammed home her second goal of the season off an excellent pass by Missy Woodie to knot the game at 2-2.

Although William & Mary earned two penalty corners and posted a shot in the waning moments of regulation, the team could not answer Delaware's late rally.

In the first overtime session, the Blue Hen defense held tough. Facing four Tribe shots, including three in a row at the start of the period, Delaware never broke. Nikki Rhoades posted three saves in the first overtime to help force a second one.

Rhoades continued her hot-streak in the second overtime, posting two early saves to keep the Tribe off the board. Unfortunately, the Blue Hen offense could not capitalize on the team's strong defensive effort, posting only one shot that went wide in the two overtime periods.

Still knotted at two, the game went into a shootout to determine the winner. After the two teams missed the first three stoke attempts, each squad drilled home their next three chances, including one by Tori Karsten, Michelle Drummonds, and Jessica Cortellino for Delaware.

With the shootout knotted at three, Rhoades saved the day with a stop on the Tribe's final attempt in the first stroke-off to force a second session. Riding a wave of momentum, the Hens' senior goalie also shut out William & Mary's first attempt in the second shootout before Karsten, Drummonds, and Cortellino all converted again for Delaware.

Although the Tribe answered and snuck their next three attempts by Rhoades, Missy Woodie blasted a shot by William & Mary's Carrie Thompson to give the team a 4-3 advantage.

With one final chance to retie the game, the Tribe's Lauren Giles was shut down by Rhoades to give the Hens' an incredible victory in the marathon match.

Although William & Mary out-shot the Hens by a 16-4 advantage and held an 11-3 lead in penalty corners, Rhoades was dominant in the cage to stymie the potent attack. She eventually finished the game with 10 saves in 115 minutes of action.

William & Mary was paced by Kelsey Nawalinski, who assisted on the Tribe’s first goal of the game and scored the second.

The victory marked the first for Delaware in a shoot-out since beating both Saint Joseph’s and Syracuse in penalty-stroke sessions during the 2006 campaign.

Delaware will return to action on Sunday when the team travels to Old Dominion for a 1 p.m. showdown.