AMHERST, NY - The Daemen Wildcats seem like a team of destiny at this point as they secured their 14th win of the season, coming from behind on two occasions to defeat the visiting Roberts Wesleyan Raiders 4-3 in double overtime tonight before a raucous home crowd at Dimp Wagner Stadium. With the win, Daemen's hopes for the program's first-ever American Mideast Conference Championship remain intact as they remain atop the conference standings at 10-1 while Roberts, who nearly pulled off a major upset, falls to 8-8, 5-5.

Double overtime wins don't happen without their share of dramatic moments and this one had plenty. Daemen senior Jenelle Masi (Greece, NY/Greece Athena HS) knotted the game at 3-3 with just 24 seconds remaining to force overtime after Rachael Banasik (Depew, NY/Depew HS) found her open on the right side. Masi's equalizer and a scoreless first overtime set the stage for another clutch goal from sophomore Samantha Engel (Dryden, NY/Dryden HS) who booted a low shot through traffic inside the far post with just 45 ticks remaining in the game to lift Daemen to the win and send the team and crowd into a frenzy.

The win even took the words from Daemen head coach Dan Dolan who, normally very analytical after games, was left speechless.

The Raiders jumped out in front early as they were out to spoil Daemen's AMC Championship chances. Alison Kendall score nearly identical goals in the 3rd and 6th minutes of the contest. Both goals saw her streak in from the left wing, receive a pass from the middle and bury high shots into the goal.

Daemen kept their composure and Masi got Daemen on the board with her 11th tally of the season in the 30th minute off feeds from Lindsay Miller (Pocono Lake, PA/Pocono Mountain West HS) and Kelsey O'Leary (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia HS). After going to the half down a goal, Engel tied things up in the opening minutes of the second half when she took the rebound that occurred after O'Leary's blast from the top of the box hit the crossbar and hammered it into an open net.

Kendall would put Roberts ahead 3-2 with her third marker of the game in the 56th minute.

Daemen really started putting the pressure on the last 10 minutes after Roberts' Mandi Hochheimer was sent off for receiving for second yellow card. The constant ball possession and mounting offensive pressure eventually caused the Raiders defense to break. A pass from Daemen's Brianna Van Scoter (Arkport, NY/Arkport HS) was deflected to the awaiting foot of Banasik who pounced on the ball and found Masi streaking inside the box for the game-tying score.

The game-winner from Engel was similar as the ball was bouncing around the box before it was tapped by junior Alexa Amato (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island HS) to Engel for the signature tally of Daemen's season.

Daemen (14-3, 10-1) will close out the regular season this Saturday when they face AMC-foe Fisher (0-14, 0-10). A win or tie will wrap up the team's first regular season conference championship.