SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The No. 3 seed University of Scranton field hockey team (16-4) dropped a heartbreaking 2-1 decision in a penalty stroke shootout to the top-seeded Susquehanna River Hawks (14-5) in Landmark Conference Championship action on Saturday afternoon at Sassafras Field in Selinsgrove.
This marked the third time in five seasons that the Royals and River Hawks had met in the conference title game.
With the victory on Saturday, Susquehanna has secured the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After a scoreless 20 minutes of overtime, senior Bridget Abraldes (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) got the Royals on the board in the second round of the penalty stroke shootout following a made attempt by Susquehanna's Katie Bucher. In the fourth shootout round, the River Hawks' Lydia Hidlay found the back of the cage with what proved to be the eventual game-winner.
Much of the first quarter proved to be a defensive stalemate until the 11th minute when junior goalie Gianna Travia (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) turned away a shot by Bucher. Less than a minute later, Abraldes took a feed from junior Reagan Dolan (Broomall, Pa./Bonner & Prendergast) and buried her 12th goal of the season to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Both defenses continued to hold strong in the second period and Scranton maintained the 1-0 edge at the half.
The River Hawks had a pair of penalty corner opportunities in the third quarter, but managed just one shot during the sequence and Scranton continued to hold the one-goal lead for the time being. Head coach Colleen Moyer's team had a chance to extend the lead in the 56th minute but a shot by senior Katie Redding (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) rolled just wide of the target. Susquehanna then found the equalizer in the 58th minute on Taylor Rothermel's goal.
Both goalies made timely stops in the first overtime period as the River Hawks' Ashley Derrick recorded three saves in the 68th minute and Travia responded with three saves of her own in the final two minutes to send the game to a second overtime. Redding's shot in the 73rd minute was turned away by Derrick and the Royals held Susquehanna without a shot in the second stanza.
Scranton held a 15-10 edge in shots led by six apiece from Dolan and Redding, while Travia recorded five saves on the day.
Derrick tallied eight saves for Susquehanna.
--ROYALS--
