It looked as though the Newburgh Free Academy girls’ lacrosse team had the game won.

Bryanna Foti had bounced a shot past FDR Presidents goalkeeper Jadyn Jones in the second overtime, but the play was blown dead due to an FDR penalty. Foti had another shot, but Jones deflected that one away.

Then, in the third overtime, Katelyn Amaral’s goal with 2:02 remaining in the third overtime ended the game and gave the Presidents a 10-9 victory on a rainy Friday afternoon at Academy Field.

“I thought we had some great opportunities,” Newburgh coach Jessica Gonzalez said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put one in the back of the net before FDR, and they were able to come out on top of the scoreboard. But obviously, we were playing for something bigger today with the Morgan’s Message dedication.
The Goldbacks dedicated Friday afternoon’s game to Morgan’s Message, which is honor of Duke lacrosse player Morgan Rogers who died by suicide in 2019. The players wore teal bands in their hair to promote the message to prioritize the mental health of athletes.

“Student-athlete mental health is something that needs to be focused on more and talked about,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of people don’t feel it’s OK to tell their coach or tell someone if they’re mentally struggling. Physically, if they were hurt, they’d let us know, but mentally, they tend to keep it all inside and we want to make sure that they know it’s OK to let us know.”

It was also a milestone afternoon for Newburgh Free Academy goalkeeper Thalia Santiago. She registered her 100th save during the first half. However, no one took Amaral’s golden goal harder than she had, and her teammates rallied around her after the game ended.

The Goldbacks trailed 5-3 after the first half but tied the game quickly in the second on goals by Foti and Vivian Gage.

After FDR’s Hannah Guarino and Foti traded goals, Ava Esposito put the Goldbacks with 11:13 left to go in regulation. Less than a minute later, Foti connected with younger sister Madison Foti from behind the cage, and Madison converted, giving the Goldbacks an 8-6 lead.

However, with the Goldbacks leading 9-7 after an FDR goal and another goal from Gage, Guarino pulled the Presidents to within one goal with 5:19 left in regulation.

FDR’s Kaitlyn Rogers tied the game with 4:23 to send it to overtime.

Savannah Tinsley, Mikayla Podlas and Emily Leonard had first-half goals for Newburgh, which fell to 3-6 on the season.
I think we’re doing great,” Gonzalez said. “We’re making great strides. We’re trying to build our program up compared to last year. we’ve come leaps and bounds and we just focus on one game at a time and try to improve on the little things as we go.”