ELMIRA, NY – In a very important Empire 8 game for the Nazareth College field hockey team, it was senior co-captain Jennifer Hilts who scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Golden Flyers recorded a 2-1 victory over Elmira Saturday afternoon.

The win for Nazareth (8-9 overall, 3-3 E8) put the Golden Flyers into a three-way tie for fourth place in the standings with one game to play in the conference regular season schedule. Nazareth is tied with Houghton and Washington and Jefferson for the final Empire 8 Tournament spot.

The Golden Flyers finish the conference schedule at St. John Fisher while Houghton plays at Utica and Washington and Jefferson hosts Hartwick.  All three games are next Saturday with Nazareth and St. John Fisher finishing the day with a 7 p.m. contest.

In the Elmira victory, the teams played a scoreless first half but Nazareth held a 4-2 shots advantage and a 7-0 edge in penalty corners. Early in the third quarter, freshman Caroline Desautels scored on a pass from senior Alexandra Livesey to give the Golden Flyers the 1-0 lead.

Just 1:43 into the final quarter, Elmira (6-9, 0-6 E8) tied the game as Janie Kempf scored her team-leading ninth goal of the season.

The Soaring Eagles continued to apply pressure throughout the final minutes but the Nazareth defense with sophomore Amanda Chuttey in goal stood tall and kept the score tied through the end of regulation time.

In overtime, sophomore Mikaylee Whalen sent a ball into the circle to freshman Bailey Selman who redirected the ball to the stick of Hilts who knocked in the winning goal.

The goal was the team-leading 13th of the season for Hilts and her 90th career point which moved her into second place on the all-time points list at Nazareth.

Chuttey finished with eight saves including seven on the fourth quarter and overtime combined.

Nazareth will host St. Lawrence in a non-conference game at 4 p.m. Wednesday before finishing the regular season at St. John Fisher.