HILLBURN, N.Y.- Caldwell University women's lacrosse junior Arden Kassaleh (Pompton Plains, N.J.) tallied nine goals as the Cougars dropped a heartbreaking 18-17 overtime loss to Dominican College in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship First Round.
 
The Cougars season ends at 6-11 overall, while the Chargers improve to 7-9 and advance to the CACC Championship Semifinals on Friday.
 
The teams traded goals in the early going as senior Jessica Collum (Wayne, N.J.) and sophomore Samantha Murphy (Pompton Plains, N.J.) netted goals for the Cougars as they trailed 3-2.
 
Caldwell rallied back with six straight goals to pull ahead 8-3. Kassaleh scored three times, while senior Rachel Lucia (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.), Murphy and freshman Emily Lasko (Jackson, N.J.) each netted goals for the Cougars.
 
The Chargers answered with five goals to pull even at eight with under six minutes left in the half. Murphy and Kassaleh added goals to push ahead 10-8 late in the half. Dominican added a goal just before halftime as Caldwell led 10-9 at the break.
 
Kassaleh netted two goals to start the second half to extend the lead to 12-9. Dominican answered with two goals to slice the score to 12-11. Kassaleh and Murphy scored for Caldwell to push ahead 14-11 midway through the second half.
 
Dominican rallied with four of the next five goals as the Chargers pulled even at 15 with 13:03 left in regulation. Kassaleh netted a goal, while Murphy scored twice to help Caldwell extend their lead to 18-15 with 11:02 left in the half.
 
The Chargers closed the half with three goals including the game-tying score with 1:26 left in regulation. Dominican controlled the ball for most of overtime before getting the game-winner at the 1:39 mark.
 
Kassleh led the way with nine goals, one assist and 10 draw controls. Murphy chipped in six goals, two assists, three ground balls, two caused turnovers and two draw controls. Freshman Jenna Steelman (Mays Landing, N.J.) posted three assists and two ground balls. Collum and Lasko each tallied one goal and one assist with Collum adding three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Lucia finished with one goal, four ground balls and three caused turnovers in her final collegiate game.
 
Freshman Mia Monacelli (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) recorded 26 saves in the loss.