Recap: Apuzzo Enters Finale Atop the Leaderboard after 9-8 OT Thriller Over Team Moreno

Ryan Legarsky

Aug 10, 2024

SPARKS, Md. — The 100th game in Athletes Unlimited Pro Lacrosse history ended in thrilling fashion as attacker Sam Apuzzo guided her team to a 9-8 overtime victory against Team Moreno to close out the penultimate day of the 2024 season at USA Lacrosse Headquarters on Saturday evening.

Team Apuzzo moves to 2-0 in Week Four competition, while Team Moreno sinks to 0-2 entering the final day of play in the 2024 season.

Apuzzo scored the overtime winner for a second straight game and earned MVP 1 honors and a game-high 158 leaderboard points. She finished with three goals, including the game-winner, a draw control, a ground ball, and a caused turnover in Team Apuzzo’s victory.

Goalkeeper Caylee Waters made eight saves, including one in the overtime period and five in the second half, to garner MVP 2 accolades and 143 points toward the standings.

Midfielder Katie O’Donnell led the way for Team Moreno with three goals, an assist, and two draw controls to claim MVP 3 plaudits and 111 leaderboard points, which was the most on her team.

For Team Apuzzo, midfielder Ally Mastroianni scored once and grabbed six draw controls.

Six total players found the back of the cage for Team Apuzzo.

Rookie attacker Isabella Peterson joined O’Donnell with three goals for Team Moreno and also contributed an assist, while attacker Erica Evans pitched in a pair of scores in the loss.

Goalkeeper Taylor Moreno made 10 saves in the defeat.

KEY MOMENT

With Team Apuzzo holding on to a 6-3 advantage at halftime, Team Moreno scored the first three goals of the second half to tie the contest at 6-6 and continued the goal-scoring run with the first two markers of the fourth frame to assume an 8-6 lead. Rookie attacker Erin Coykendall netted a two-point tally with 3:16 left in regulation to tie the game for Team Apuzzo, which held until the end of the fourth quarter. Apuzzo scored less than two minutes into the overtime period to clinch victory.

LEADERBOARD IMPACT

Apuzzo enters the league’s final game day at the top of the leaderboard with 1,662 points and leads attacker Charlotte North by just 85 points. Midfielder Ally Kennedy sits in third with 1,363 points and Moreno occupies fourth place in the standings with 1,316 points.

GAME NOTES

Teams are now 6-for-17 in captain’s challenges … Team Moreno initiated a captain’s challenge with 1:39 left in the third quarter to see if rookie midfielder Cassidy Spilis was in the goal circle on a goal … The call was overturned and the goal was taken off the board.
Team Apuzzo’s record against Team Moreno moves to 9-2 in their 11 all-time matchups … Team Apuzzo has won five straight games in the series with Team Moreno, including all four in the 2024 season.
Apuzzo extended her consecutive games point streak to 50 … She is the only player in the league to record at least one point in 50 competitions.
Apuzzo scores the game-winning goal of an overtime contest in a consecutive game and for the third time in her AU Pro Lacrosse career.
Apuzzo netted a hat trick for the 22nd time in her Athletes Unlimited Pro Lacrosse career … She remains one back of North who registered her 23rd career three-goal performance in the first game of the day.
O’Donnell scored three goals to register her 15th career multi-goal performance … The Penn State product has scored at least two goals in four contests in the 2024 AU Pro Lacrosse season.
O’Donnell finished her third hat trick of her career with a goal at the 1:16 mark of the third quarter.
Peterson extended her goal-scoring streak to four straight games with a three-goal performance … She has scored in nine of her 11 AU Pro Lacrosse games and registered her fifth hat trick.
Coykendall netted a two-point goal at the 3:16 mark of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 8-8 … It was her first career two-point marker and became the 30th player in league history to score from long distance.
Defender Lizzie Colson grabbed five draw controls in the game, which is her eighth game with five or more draws … Colson set her new career-high mark earlier this season with eight draw controls against Team McCool on July 28.
Mastroianni snagged six draw controls to lead the game and move her career total to 131 … The tally moves her past Apuzzo for third on the AU Pro Lacrosse all-time ledger.
This is the 10th overtime game in AU Pro Lacrosse history, including the fourth game needing an extra period in the 2024 season.
The game marks the second occurrence of overtime in the all-time series between Team Apuzzo and Team Moreno … Team Apuzzo prevailed, 11-10, in a shootout on July 30, 2022.
Moreno made 10 saves to finish with 10 or more shots stopped for a league-leading 27th time in her AU Pro Lacrosse career … She has 10 or more saves in nine of her 11 games in the 2024 season.
Team Apuzzo finished with just one assist on eight goals, which ties the team low for the 2024 season … It is the fourth time a team has only contributed one assist in a game this summer.
Apuzzo claimed her 32nd career Game MVP honors to increase her lead as most in AU Pro Lacrosse … It is also the 19th time she’s claimed the top postgame honor, which is also the most in the league’s four-year history.
Waters garners Game MVP laurels for the 18th time and moves into sole possession of second-most in AU Pro Lacrosse history … It is her seventh MVP 2 honor and is one back of Apuzzo for most MVP 2 selections.
O’Donnell gets the fourth Game MVP laurel of her career and the third time in the 2024 season.
This is just the second time in Athletes Unlimited history that both games of a doubleheader required extra time … Both games of the AU Pro Softball AUX doubleheader on June 25, 2022, needed extra innings in its inaugural season.
The game marks the fourth overtime game of the 2024 season and the fourth in the last five contests … That is the most out of any AU Pro lacrosse season and is tied for the second most across all Athletes Unlimited sports … The 2022 AU Pro Softball AUX season had five extra-inning contests, while the 2021 AU Pro Softball Championship season saw four games go to extra frames.
This was the 100th all-time AU Pro Lacrosse contest .. The inaugural 2021 season completed a 30-game slate before slimming to a 24-game schedule for the following three seasons.