ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior Sam Di Maio had the golden touch on Monday afternoon in Ithaca, New York as she netted the game-winning goal in double overtime to lift the Lafayette field hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Cornell.

Working down the left side, sophomore Audrey Sawers found a cutting classmate in Grace Angelella into the left side of the circle. Angelella wound up and fired a low shot that was deflected into the far side by Di Maio as the Leopard bench erupted, ending the game with 52 seconds remaining before penalty strokes would have decided it.

The goal was well-deserved for a Maroon and White side that dominated the run of play throughout the contest, including earning all eight corners in the game, with four of them coming in overtime and three in the second extra session. The win moves Lafayette to 8-9 overall this season heading into the regular-season finale at Bucknell on Saturday.

The game was a tightly-contested, defensive battle as Cornell goalkeeper Maddie Henry was stellar with nine saves on the day. The Big Red struck first with just 25 seconds to play in the first half as Maddy Conklin found Grace Royer through a scrum in the Lafayette defensive circle and Royer slotted it past Leopards' junior goalkeeper Sarah Park to move the game to the break at 1-0.

The equalizer for the Maroon and White came in the 54^th minute off one of those eight corners as senior co-captain Rachel Bird netted her first career goal. Junior co-captain Lisa van der Geest, who usually takes the initial shot on corner opportunities, instead decided to send a pass to her left to a waiting Bird, the reigning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week. Bird made no mistake as she blasted a shot past Henry to tie it at 1-1.

Offensive chances were few and far between from that point forward as the game went into overtime deadlocked. The Leopards owned the majority of the possession in both extra sessions, but couldn't convert on early opportunities, including a stretch of three straight corners midway through the second overtime period that were turned away.

Finally, Sawers, Angelella and Di Maio linked up during a run of play with more space than normal in the 7-on-7 overtime format. Di Maio finished it off to send the Leopards back to conference opponents with momentum and a two-game win streak.

Park finished with two saves on the afternoon for her eighth win of 2018 and Lafayette led in shots by a 17-7 margin. The Leopard defense came up strong once again, allowing just two shots in 15:08 of overtime and surrendering two or less goals for the fifth straight game.

The Leopards close the regular season at Bucknell on Saturday at 2 p.m. A win would secure the two seed for the Maroon and White in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, while a loss could drop them to either three or four based on the result of the American-Colgate contest.