Box Score
Sophomore midfielder Karli Balmer (Perkasie, Pa.) netted a trio of goals including the overtime game-winner to help lift the Fighting Scots to a 4-3 victory over the University of Southern Maine today in non-conference field hockey action at Gordon's Brigham Athletic Complex. 

Senior captain Mindy Fowler (Winslow, Maine) rounded out the Scots' scoring on the day, while fellow senior captain Leah LaPalombara (Sr./Glens Mills, Pa.) and sophomore Gayle Watson (So./Harare, Zimbabwe) each chipped in an assist.

The Huskies' Ariel Kaplan (Jr./South Berwick, Maine) and Rachel Trafton (Sr./Corinth, Maine) got their team on the board in the early going of the first half with a goal each to secure a comfortable 2-0 lead at the midway mark. Then just six minutes into the second stanza Balmer buried her first goal of the day off a penalty stroke to break the Scots' silence and draw the game back to within one. USM's Michaela George (Fr./Pittsfield, Maine) answered right back, however, collecting a feed from Stephanie Lomasney (Jr./York, Maine) and besting Gordon keeper Anna Bury (Jr./Huntingtown, Md.) to extend the lead to 3-1 with 25 minutes remaining.

Behind a relentless offensive effort, Fowler knocked home her first of the season in the 62nd minute to make it a 3-2 ballgame and give Gordon a sign of life heading down the stretch. And just when the game looked out of reach, Balmer stepped up to net the game-tying tally off a penalty corner with no time remaining on the clock to force the game into overtime.

Carrying that momentum into the extra frame, it took Balmer just three minutes to find the net once again, this time converting her second penalty stroke of the day to lift Gordon to the one-goal win.

Bury finished the day with 12 saves in net to preserve the win for Gordon, while USM keepers Lindsey Fortin (So./Berwick, Maine) and Kayla Kennedy (Jr./Windham, Maine) combined for 12 saves in the losing effort.

The Scots return to Brigham on Saturday, Sept. 8 as they host non-conference New England College at 12:00p.m. Southern Maine, now 2-1 on the season, hosts Eastern Connecticut State at 1:00p.m.