Box Score Senior Gina Vilsack scored a goal 21 seconds into overtime to lift John Carroll to an impressive 12-11 victory over Capital University in its conference opener Saturday afternoon in Bexley, Ohio.

The game featured two teams that had yet to lose in the 2018 campaign -- John Carroll with its 6-0 record against Capital which owned a 7-0 record.

Adding to the significance of this "battle of the unbeatens" was that John Carroll was winless in its history against Capital, going 0-4 in four previous contests against the Crusaders.

Many things changed with the Vilsack golden goal.

John Carroll had an early lead, jumping out to a 4-2 advantage in the opening ten minutes. Back to back goals by Colleen Gromabala broke open a 2-2 tie.

The Blue Streaks went through an offensive deep freeze that lasted nearly 13 minutes. In the meantime, Capital scored four unanswered goals to take a 6-4 lead.

Grombala was able to stop the Crusaders' run with a man up goal at the eight-minute mark to pull John Carroll within a single tally at 6-5, but Capital seemed to take command, scoring three of the next four goals to take a 9-6 lead with 4:45 remaining in the opening half.

In a very pivotal moment of the game, two JCU seniors stepped up with big goals. First it was Vilsack scoring her second goal with 2:54 showing on the clock, and then Grace Curatolo scoring her second of the game with just ten ticks remaining to make the score 9-8 in favor of Capital heading to the locker room.

Where offense ruled in the first half, defense took over in the second. The teams combined for just five goals in the 30-minute period, with the Blue Streaks holding Capital to two markers.

JCU started off well, scoring the first three goals of the stanza. Brooke McQuinn, Grombala and Meghan Harte all found the net as JCU turned a 9-8 deficit into an 11-9 lead. After Harte's goal at the 18:28 mark, the Blue Streaks would not score again the remainder of regulation.

Capital, which had been held scoreless for the final 4:45 of the first half and the opening 12 minutes oif the second, finally broke through on a Kara Hines goal at the 17:41 mark.

The game would be knotted at 11-11 on a Kathryn Walton goal with 10:16 remaining.

Neither team scored the rest of the way, but not for lack of trying. Each team forced four turnovers, and Capital had four shots, including three in the final two minutes, that could not find the mark. JCU keeper Elyssa Zablo made two key saves in the final two minutes.

The overtime started with John Carroll winning the draw, and Curatolo setting sail through the Capital defense. She found Vilsack on the right side, and her teammate and classmate buried the shot for the winner.

Capital had the edge in shots (33-25) and a smaller edge in shots on goal (23-22), while John Carroll had the edge in ground balls (24-19).

Zablo was outstanding in net once again. She finished the afternoon with 12 saves.

John Carroll, off to its best start in program history, is 7-0 while Capital falls to 7-1.