The Rutland girls lacrosse team had to find that next gear, trailing 10-8 entering the fourth quarter. They shifted into high gear, won the fourth stanza 3-1 to force overtime and then celebrated when Piper Newman scored in the extra session for Rutland's 12-11 victory over Brattleboro. Loretta Cooley scored her sixth goal to give Rutland an 11-10 lead with 5:09 remaining in regulation play.

Abigail Henry scored to draw the Bears even with 4:20 to go, setting the stage for overtime. Rutland coach Carly Burrows said the message to the team before going on to the field for the sudden-death overtime was "to play like a team." Then the sophomore Newman ended it, sending seniors Cooley, Sarah Crossman, Adysen Kinsman and Lila Tu out of their Senior Day in the best possible way.

"Coach told us (going into the OT) that we had to take care of the ball and make smart plays," Newman said. "Ady (Kinsman) gave me a great opportunity with her pass. I dropped it but was able to pick it up and score.

" Cooley, who has 196 career goals going into Friday's home game against BFA-St. Albans, said she was pretty confident of victory when RHS won the draw to start the three-minute overtime period. Brattleboro won the first meeting in Brattleboro by the same 12-11 score (in regulation) and they looked to be intent on gaining the sweep when they scored the first two goals of the game, both by Sophia Albright.

But then it was RHS going on the attack with gusto to fashion a 3-2 advantage by the end of.