Box Score
INDIANA, PA – Michelle Zakrzewski (Purcellville, VA/Loudoun Valley) scored both of IUP's overtime goals, including the game-winner with 39.3 seconds left, propelling the Crimson Hawks to a 12-11 victory over Bloomsburg in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Women's Lacrosse Championships.
 
The Crimson Hawks, the third seed in the tournament, will now move on to the semifinals where they will play second seed Mercyhurst in Lock Haven on Friday.
 
IUP improved to 13-4 on the season, tying the program mark for most wins in a year, which was set just last season. The Huskies finish their season at 9-8.
 
In an extremely even game all around, Bloomsburg grabbed a 10-9 lead with 7:18 left in regulation on Julie Falk's sixth goal of the game. After a shot by Amy Weinberg (Clarksville, MD/Atholton) was saved with 5:46 to go, the Huskies held onto the ball for nearly five minutes, until a caused turnover by Drew Hayden (Gibsonia/Pine Richland) was picked up by Paige Beierschmitt (Eastampton Township, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional) with a minute remaining.
 
A shot by Carissa Smith (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) with 34 seconds left was saved and after Hayden drew a yellow card just seconds later, the game seemed to be over. But an inexplicable Bloomsburg turnover came with just 11 seconds remaining and after a give-and-go, Zakrzewski found Brittney Palardy (Perry Hall, MD/Perry Hall) for the game-tying goal with less than five seconds left on the clock.
 
Bloomsburg grabbed the first lead in overtime with a goal by Ashley Bossert with 18 seconds left before the field switch. Zakrzewski's first goal came with 1:07 left, taking a pass from Smith and streaking to the goal to tie the score. She then controlled the ensuing draw and after a foul, scoring the game-winner on a free position with just under 40 seconds to play.
 
The Huskies picked up the draw control and had a chance to tie, but IUP goalie Katie Davis (Owings Mills, MD/Mercy) deflected shot with 18 seconds left before Hayden caused a turnover and picked up a ground ball with just five seconds remaining, securing the comeback win for the Crimson Hawks.
 
The stats were nearly the same for both teams, with IUP getting 24 shots compared to Bloomsburg's 23; the Crimson Hawks also held a slight edge in ground balls, 17-16, and had less turnovers than the Huskies, eight to 13. Bloomsburg did hold the advantage in draw controls, 14 to 12.
 
Palardy led the Crimson Hawks with four goals while Zakrzewski finished with three. Sarah Ward (Murrysville/Franklin Regional ) and Alex Edwards (Bethlehem/Nazareth) each had two. Taylor Norwood (Chantilly, VA/Chantilly) had six draw controls, three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Davis had nine saves in 66 minutes in the net.
 
The teams were tied at 5-5 at halftime, but Bloomsburg scored two early goals in the second half to take a 7-5 advantage with over 27 minutes to play. The Crimson Hawks responded with two goals just 1:04 apart before the teams traded goals until it was tied at 10-10 heading to overtime.
 
The semifinals meeting will be a rematch of the April 15 regular season game won by Mercyhurst, 15-13 at Miller Stadium. Both the semifinals and championship rounds will be played at Lock Haven, which earned the right to host as the top seed in the tournament.
 
IUP's semifinal game on Friday will be played at 4 p.m. If the Crimson Hawks win, they'll face the winner of Lock Haven and fifth seed West Chester on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the title.