Colombo, Glowaki Too Much for Lions in Overtime Thriller

SAINT LEO, Fla. – The No. 6 ranked University of Tampa Spartans women's lacrosse team defeated the Saint Leo University Lion's in a 15-14 overtime thriller. Gia Colombo's six goal effort led the Spartan atack and Georgia Glowaki's overtime goal with 34 seconds left gave Tampa their sixth win of the year and extended their winning streak to three.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: #6 Tampa 15, Saint Leo 14 

Records: Tampa 6-1 (5-1 SSC), Saint Leo 3-4 (2-3 SSC)

Location: University Turf Stadium | St. Leo, Fla.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

FIRST HALF

The Lions struck first in an early game of trading goals. Genie Santarpio's scoring prowess continued with goal number 16 on the season at the 27:55 mark to tie the game 1-1. The next three goals went SLW-UT-SLW with a goal by Gia Colombo with a helper from Cece Colombo to make the score 2-2 all. The Lions used some mid-half momentum to rattle off three goals en route to a 5-2 lead. Tampa continued to hang around and outscored Saint Leo 4-2 in the half's final 12 minutes to keep the game close:

10:26 – Lizzie Pierpont, unassisted.

09:13 – Gia Colombo, unassisted, free position shot.

02:48 – Emma McLoughlin, unassisted.

01:10 – Mcloughlin, unassisted.

Score: 7-6 Saint Leo

SECOND HALF

Trading shots continued to be the theme of the match, as the Spartans and Lions continued delivering body blow after body blow. Saint Leo scored the first three goals of the second half, putting pressure on the Spartans to deliver. Cece Colombo—as she has done all season—got things going for the Spartans and answered the bell at the 24:46 minute with an unassisted goal to cut the Lions lead to three. Saint Leo immediately responded with a score 23 seconds later to go back up four, 11-7 with 24:23 left.

The rest of the half was almost all Tampa, with the Spartans outscoring the Lions 7-3 to end the game, including three goals in a two-minute span—all unassisted, all scored by Gia Colombo—to force overtime:

18:00 – Dani Waters, unassisted.

17:43 – Gia Colombo, unassisted.

16:26 – Santarpio, unassisted, free position shot.

12:39 – Georgia Glowaki, unassisted.

02:22, 01:54, 01:08 – Gia Colombo, unassisted.

Score: 14-14 Tied

OVERTIME

• Glowaki scored with 34 seconds left on the free position shot to beat the Lions.

Score: 15-14 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Gia Colombo's six goals scored are a career high.
• Genie Santarpio added two goals in the match to give her a team-leading 17 goals scored on the season.
• Georgia Glowaki, a freshman, scored the first game winner of her career.

UP NEXT: The Spartans travel to Lakeland, Fla., Wednesday for an evening showdown with Sunshine State Conference opponent Florida Southern College at 7:00 p.m.

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