GLENDORA, Calif. -- On Senior Day at the Citrus Aquatic Center, Azusa Pacific took down California Baptist in a back-and-forth overtime thriller by a score of 14-12. Before the game, Azusa Pacific honored seven seniors, Bri Erickson, Lauren Hoyle, Olivia Lott, Gabrielle Mantyka, Gabrielle Martinez, Hannah Murray, and Milena Guzman Ortiz all of which played in their last home game today. 

The Cougars were led by Erickson who's career-high four goals all came in the first half before Shyanne Rainey, Lott, and Kyra Kahahawai all came up clutch down the stretch in the win. The Cougars improved to 8-14 on the season and picked up their second GCC win of the season improving to 2-4 in conference play.

How it Happened: It was Azusa Pacific that came out aggressive in the early going taking the lead less than 15 seconds into the game as Erickson put away the first goal of the game on the power play. Erickson doubled the lead over a minute and a half later with another power play goal giving Azusa Pacific the 2-0 lead.

The Lancers would answer with two straight goals to tie it up before Kaelene De Bie gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead.

Tied up at 3-apiece after the first, Erickson tallied her third goal of the game at the 6:32 mark of the second period. With the goal, it was Erickson's first career hat trick, coming of course on her Senior Day. The Cougars scored another from a long range shot from Skylar Ford to make it 5-3. 

The Lancers cut the deficit in half once again before Rainey tallied her first goal of the game to up the advantage to 6-4 before Erickson's fourth first-half goal gave Azusa Pacific its largest lead of the game going into halftime.

After the break, Cal Baptist responded with a third period which they outscored the Cougars 5-2 to get back in the game. The two goals were scored by Guzman Ortiz and Hoyle both of which were the seniors first goals of the contest. 

With the game knotted at 9-9 going into the fourth period, the Lancers took their very first lead of the game over halfway through the period. But the Cougars battled back, with a minute remaining, Rainey's original close range effort clanged off the post before she followed it up and tapped the ball into the goal to tie the game at 10-10. Neither side took advantage of their opportunities in the final minute which sent the game to overtime. 

For Azusa Pacific, it was the second game that's gone to overtime for them this season. Despite going down in the early seconds of the first overtime period, the Cougars would tie it up with De Bie's second of the game. The game headed to the second half of overtime tied at 11-apiece. 

In the second half of overtime, Kahahawai gave the Cougars their first lead of overtime a minute in with a beautiful skip shot before the Lancers tied it right back up on the next possession. But Azusa Pacific kept going as it was Rainey who set up Ford for the go-ahead goal with 1:47 remaining to give the Cougars a 13-12 lead. Then off a Lancers turnover, Montana White put the exclamation point on the win with a breakaway goal to push the advantage to 14-12. The Cougars defense would hold on from there as they won 14-12.

By the Numbers: The Cougars were 3-for-9 on the power play and held Cal Baptist to two goals in eight power play opportunities. The defense for Azusa Pacific was great as Lott tallied 11 saves. The Lancers outshot the Cougars 44-40 but the Cougars shot percentage of .350 was much better than CBU's .273. 

Up Next: Azusa Pacific will travel to Loyola Marymount for the final game of the regular season which is set for Thursday, April 14th. The game is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. you can follow along with live stats here.