WASHINGTON, Pa. -- An overtime goal lifted visiting Mount Union to a 13-12 victory over the Washington & Jefferson College women's lacrosse team in the season opener for both teams Saturday afternoon in non-conference play at Alexandre Stadium. 

The game mirrored last year's meeting between a pair of squads who qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament last spring. W&J, who won the 2023 matchup by a 16-15 score with a last second goal, saw the table's turned on them in the 2024 lid-lifter. 

Sofia Jenkins (Hughesville, Md./The Calverton School) led all players with six points. Jenkins scored three times and assisted three other W&J goals. Jenkins added four draw controls and three ground balls to her stat sheet. Caleigh Bogats (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) posted four goals and added an assist for a five-point day. Aisa Uhler (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) netted a four-score game in the loss. 

W&J opened the scoring when Bogats scored a free position goal just 1:17 into the contest. Mount Union countered with four of the next five scores to forge a 4-2 advantage late in the first. The Presidents finished the first quarter with three-straight goals over the final 2:49 to surge into the lead. Jenkins played a role in all three scores. Jenkins assisted a Uhler score that cut the deficit to a single goal before Jenkins scored two goals of her own to put W&J in front 5-4 at the end of the quarter. 

Bogats scored off a pass from Jenkins to make it 6-4 W&J early in the second. Mount Union countered with three-straight goals to push back in front at the 9:58 mark. W&J closed the first half with three of the final four goals to lead 9-8 at the break. Bogats started the run with back-to-back unassisted scores. 

Emily Heck (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) found the scoring column early in the third to stretch the lead to 10-8. However, W&J went scoreless for nearly 15 minutes of game time from that point and Mount scored four-straight goals to lead 12-10 with 11:20 to play. 

A pair of goals by Uhler evened the score at 12-12. Jenkins assisted the second tally. Uhler's fourth score of the day came with 3:22 left in regulation. 

W&J had the ball out of a timeout with 1:11 to play in regulation. However, the Presidents committed a turnover and the game went to overtime. W&J won the initial draw and created a free position opportunity but were stymied by the Mount Union defense. The Purple Raiders then cleared the ball and Katie Clark netted the game winner for the visitors just 1:19 into the overtime session. 

Defensively, Ella Phillips (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) and Sammy Hartz (Ijamsville, Md./Oakdale) both registered five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Mya Bolinda (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) was the leader in the draw circle for W&J with six draw controls. Kaitlyn Brown (Charlotte Hall, Md./La Plata) finished with nine saves in 61-plus minutes in the cage. 

The stat sheet reflected a close-knit battle. Mount Union edged W&J in shots (32-31), saves (12-9) and draw controls (17-12). The Presidents had more ground balls (33-23) and less turnovers (25-21). W&J was 5-of-7 on free position attempts. 

W&J heads to Capital University for a second-straight matchup with a team from the Ohio Athletic Conference on Saturday, March 2. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m.