The women's lacrosse teams from SUNY Oneonta and Rensselaer squared off today in the season opener for both squads and, when the final horn sounded, the score was tied 14-14.  After a brief meeting between the coaches and officials, it was deemed too dark to continue, so the two teams had to settle for an extremely rare tie in the sport of lacrosse.
 
Oneonta junior Lauren Bascelli (Williston Park/Herricks) scored with 17 seconds remaining to tie the game at 14 apiece and, on the ensuing draw, Oneonta controlled the ball but couldn't get a shot off as time expired.  Bascelli finished the contest with a pair of goals.
 
The Red Dragons appeared to be in control of today's game building a 7-2 lead entering halftime, but the Engineers battled back in the second half to take the 14-13 lead with just over one minute remaining in the game.
 
After a Maddy Aslansan goal gave Rensselaer an early 1-0 lead, the Red Dragons stormed back with four unanswered goals to grab a 4-1 lead.  Bascelli, Victoria Varone (Commack/Commack), Shannon Giddens (Franklin Square/H Frank Carey) and Taylor Casey (Garden City South/Kellenberg Memorial) each scored for the Red Dragons.
 
Abbey Salvon got one back for Rensselaer with an assist from Aslansan in the 15^th minute to cut their deficit in half.
 
Oneonta closed the half with three straight tallies including a second goal by Casey.  After assisting on Casey's goal junior Kelsey Cohen (Baldwin/Baldwin) scored on a free position shot before freshman Sophia Calabrese (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Central) notched her first collegiate goal.
 
The Engineers scored the first four goals of the second half to pull to within one goal at 7-6.  Lauren Guiry led the way with a pair of goals.
 
Calabrese scored her second of the game to put Oneonta up by two goals before a pair by the visitors tied the game at 8 apiece.
 
Freshman Haley Vermette (Brewster/North Salem) scored her first collegiate goal to give the Red Dragons the lead back at 9-8.  Casey scored again less than one minute later to give Oneonta its two-goal lead back.
 
Michelle Bolger and Aslansan scored within 37 seconds of each other to tie the game once again with just over 14 minutes to go.  From that point, the two teams exchanged goals for the remainder of the game.
 
Casey led the Oneonta attack with four goals while classmate Jaime Morris (West Nyack/Clarkstown South) contributed four assists.
 
Oneonta will head to Florida for a pair of games next week against Simmons College and Misericordia.