Up 2-0 and closing in the on the end of the first half, the field hockey team was looking at an upset and a shocker against the top seed in the NEC tournament, Rider.
Fairfield gave up three goals in the second period and lost a heartbreaker to Rider 3-2 in the NEC tournament semifinals held in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Rider, hosting the tournament, scored their three goals during the last 36 minutes of the game to crush Fairfield.
Fairfield’s first goal came at 25 minutes into the game on a rebound by Allison Mays ’07. Caitlin Quinn ’07 picked up the assist when Mays put in Quinn’s missed shot.
Amanda Love ’09 scored the second goal of the game for the Stags eight minutes later. She scored on a direct pass from Kelly Rath ’06. The goal was Love’s first collegiate point.
Rider scored its first goal with 11 seconds left in the first half. The shot beat goaltender Elizabeth Thomas ’08 right before the first half was over.
Momentum carried into the second half for Rider. They tied the game just over four minutes into the second half.
“It was hard for us to get an offense started. However, we did provide pressure and came very close to tying the game in the last three minutes,” said Head Coach Jackie Kane-Leonard.
The Broncs kept putting pressure on the Stags. Rider notched its third goal on a pass right in front of the box.
Fairfield put together a little run at the end of the game, but couldn’t break the Rider defense and lost 3-2.
Thomas had a good day in the net with nine saves, but Fairfield couldn’t give her more support. Fairfield only had five shots on the day to Rider’s 12.
Rider dominated Fairfield in penalty corners 26-9, getting more shots on goal.
The Stags, who were the fourth seed in the tournament, qualified for the tournament when Rider beat Monmouth in the last regular-season game.
The loss ended the season with a 4-5 record in the NEC and a 6-14 record overall.
The Stags lost to Rider earlier in the year 3-0; however they were unable to revenge on the Broncs.
Fairfield loses only two seniors to graduation, retaining most of its starting lineup for next year and two of its top three scorers, Briana Keene ’08 and Emily Janis ’09.
Rebecca Odenwaelder ’06 and Rath, garnered first team All-NEC this year.
Keene had eight goals and two assists this year totaling 18 points. Rath was third on the team in goals with five and first in assists with seven.
Thomas and Lauren Callahan ’08 split time very evenly in goal this year for the Stags.
o had a lot of calls go their way. They were awarded 18
penalty corners in the 2nd half. That is one every 2 minutes.
Although it is always sad to see a season end. And it is impossible to
replace seniors like Becca odenwaelder and Kelly Rath who both made to
the NEC first Team. We are optimistic about the 2006 season. We played
well in our conference and posted some great non-league wins against
UMass and Dartmouth. 7 of our losses were by one goal and 3 of those
came in OT.
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