Final Stats

SAN DIEGO - Freshman midfielder Taylor Cuenin scored on an eight-meter opportunity just one minute, 42 seconds into overtime, lifting UC Davis to a 7-6 win over San Diego State in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women's lacrosse action at Aztec Lacrosse Field Friday evening. The win qualifies the Aggies for one of the six berths in the MPSF tournament, marking their championship berth since 2010.

Cuenin finished with her fifth hat trick of the year and her first since the team's win over Denver on April 3. Senior attacker Ellie Delich and freshman midfielder Shannon Cross each posted two goals and an assist to complete the scoring. Sophomore goalie Lauren Ali tallied eight saves and four ground balls.

For SDSU, seniors Felice Artuso and Alexa Comfort each had three total points: two goals and an assist from Comfort, one goal and two assists from Artuso.

Cuenin netted the game's first goal after sophomore Shannon Geary won her own draw to start the game. However, Artuso equalized in the fifth minute, won the next draw, then assisted Comfort for the go-ahead seconds later. Artuso and Comfort teamed up again in the eighth minute to extend the Aztec lead to 3-1. Cross assisted senior Delich to end the SDSU run with 13:56 remaining, then after almost 13 minutes of defensive stands, Delich returned the favor by assisting Cross on a quick stick to tie the contest at 3-3.

Due to a yellow card with less than a minute left in the period, the Aggies went short-handed for one final defensive setup, allowing San Diego State an opportunity to regain the lead in time for the break. Artuso missed wide right but Comfort completed her hat trick on a drive with three ticks remaining, lifting the Aztecs to a 4-3 lead. SDSU outshot UC Davis, 16-10, in that first half but Ali earned six stops to keep the Aggies within striking range.

Ali's defense of the cage continued into the second half as she snubbed Kristen Hickey's attempt in the opening minute. UC Davis tied the contest for a third time with Cross' crease roll in the 37th minute. Cross won the ensuing draw and eventually fired upon the SDSU cage, but goalie Katrina Reeves protected the high corner with her first save since taking over the netminding duties after halftime.

The Aztecs snared the lead yet again on Kayla Deitz' eight-meter conversion with 16:34 to go, but Cuenin knotted up the game into a fourth tie at 5-5 with her right-side drive three minutes later. A pair of Aggie miscues in the midfield allowed San Diego State to snatch another lead on a goal from Ijeoma Ikpe in the 53rd. Yet again, UC Davis responded: Delich found the back of the net on a second-chance opportunity just under the four-minute mark, tying the game at 6-6.

Senior defender Morgan Sissler won a scrambling draw after the next restart, drawing a foul and allowing the Aggies a long, methodical possession. Head coach Tee Ladouceur called timeout with 75 seconds remaining. Aggie senior Courtney Neff drew an eight-meter foul at 0:03 and went straight to cage, but her shot sailed just high of frame at the horn, sending the contest into overtime.

Vickie Porter won the initial draw of overtime but a fumbled ball allowed Neff to race in for the ground ball. UC Davis was fouled hard in transition, resulting in a key yellow SDSU card in transition and affording a two-minute power play. While driving toward the Aztec cage, Cuenin drew an eight-meter foul and was positioned on the center-right hashmark. She also traveled straight to cage and planted her shot on the low-left corner for the game-winner.

UC Davis concludes its MPSF slate with a noon game at No. 5 USC on Sunday. The Trojans clinched the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Championship due to their 10-9 victory over Stanford on Friday afternoon.

GOALS - UC DAVIS: Taylor Cuenin 3, Ellie Delich 2, Shannon Cross 2. SDSU: Alexa Comfort 2, Felice Artuso 1, Ijeoma Ikpe 1, Kayla Deitz 1, Katie Gill 1.

ASSISTS - UC DAVIS: Shannon Cross 1, Ellie Delich 1. SDSU: Felice Artuso 2, Alexa Comfort 1.

GOALIE SAVES - UC DAVIS: Lauren Ali 8 (61:42). SDSU: Katie Merritt 3 (30:00), Katrina Reeves 4 (31:42).

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS: Friday's win moves UC Davis into fourth place with that 5-3 record, a half-game ahead of Denver, which finishes the MPSF season at 5-4... At this point, Aggies' seeding in the MPSF tournament largely rests with Sunday's Oregon-Colorado matchup... A UC Davis upset of USC puts the Aggies as the No. 4 seed in the championship regardless of the Ducks-Buffs outcome...

If UC Davis loses to USC and Oregon upsets Colorado, the Aggies finish in a three-way tie for fourth with DU and Oregon... The first tiebreaker is a wash, with each team 1-1 against the other two... The second tiebreaker is each team's record against the top teams in the conference, working from top to bottom... All three teams would be 0-2 against USC and Stanford, but Oregon would then get the No. 4 seed due to the assumed win over Colorado... After that, UC Davis gets the No. 5 seed from its head-to-head win over Denver.