Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

Boxscore

RICHMOND, Va. - Alexis Esbitt blasted a goal less than one minute into overtime to lift the University of Delaware field hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Virginia Commonwealth during the squad’s Colonial Athletic Association opener on Friday evening.

Esbitt (at right), who led the team in scoring last season, found the perfect time for her first goal of the 2009 campaign after she corralled a rebound and fired a shot past the VCU keeper to hand Delaware (6-2, 1-0 CAA) its sixth straight victory.

Along with Esbitt, the Blue Hens were paced by Casey Howard and Rae Everson, who both found the back of the cage. Everson and Missy Woodie also picked up assists on the team’s first goal of the game.

VCU (5-2, 0-1) was the first to light up the scoreboard during the conference clash. Shortly after the squad earned its second penalty corner of the game, Marle van Dessel kept the ball in the zone and found an open space in the cage at 11:16 to put the Rams up, 1-0.

The Delaware offense responded, uncorking three shots on VCU’s Megan Botteri, but the Ram keeper held tough. Eventually, the onslaught paid off, however, as the squad earned a penalty corner at 28:29. After Everson found Woodie with a nice feed, the junior back set up Howard with a perfect pass at the top of the circle. The team captain quickly capitalized as she fired a laser into the back of the cage for her league-leading 11th goal of the season.

With the game knotted at one, the Hens came out as the aggressor in the second half. The squad garnered four early penalty corners, and after the first three were denied, the team took advantage of the fourth. Following an initial blast by Howard that was saved by Botteri, Everson came swooping in to clean up as she laced as shot past the goalie for her second score of the season at 42:15.

As the clock ticked down in regulation, VCU went on the attack. Although Noelle Diana batted away the first shot she faced after halftime, the Ram offense was undeterred. With less than eight minutes to go in the second half, Kelsey Scherrer took a pass from Lindsay Jones and snuck a shot past Diana to tie the game at two.

With the contest still knotted after 70 minutes of action, Delaware decided to end the game quickly in the extra stanza. Just 47 seconds into the overtime period, Michelle Drummonds blasted an initial shot, and after Botteri batted it away, Esbitt capped the victory with a one-timer.

The win continued Delaware’s dominance against the Rams (5-2, 0-1). In nine career meetings, the Hens have yet to lose. It marks the team’s third straight overtime victory against VCU after posting a 5-2 win in double overtime during the 2007 season before grabbing a 2-1 victory in one extra session last year.

Delaware will be back in action on Sunday when the squad faces James Madison, the defending CAA champions, at 1 p.m.