|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||
| Field Hockey | |||||||||||||||||
Charles B. Clark Cup Regents Cup Related Links SU Home |
Previous Page
WESTFIELD, Mass. - Salisbury University took full advantage of its set plays and two goals by sophomore Megan Powell to defeat Middlebury (Vt.) College, 6-3, in the 2004 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship game at Westfield State College's Alumni Field. Salisbury, which also defeated Middlebury in the 2003 championship game, scored on three of its four first-half penalty corners, and also scored on a free hit play to take a 4-1 halftime lead. The Sea Gulls capitalized on their first penalty corner at 10:10 into the high-scoring first half when Salisbury midfielder Danielle Twilley won a battle for the ball with Middlebury goalkeeper Meghan McGillen and passed the ball to a wide-open Abby Rowe, who put the ball in the left side of the goal to give Salisbury a 1-0 advantage. "We like to score first and knock them on their heels," Powell said. "It helps a lot that we've been here before. We stayed calm and played our hearts out." Just over a minute later, Salisbury earned its second penalty corner and executed again. Twilley passed the corner out to Melissa Webster, who blasted a shot from just inside the circle which was tipped over McGillen by a Panther defender into the top of the cage to extend the Sea Gull lead to 2-0 at 11:05. "We had so many unforced defensive errors early in the game," Middlebury head coach Katharine DeLorenzo said. "We were vulnerable to the quick hit by Salisbury outside the circle that led to the first two goals." Middlebury got some pressure on the Salisbury goal when junior midfielder Allison Smith had a shot from 16 yards out that was stopped by Salisbury's freshman goalkeeper Maria Ramoundos. Salisbury cleared the ball quickly and raced downfield, forcing Middlebury to foul just outside the Middlebury circle. On the ensuing free hit from 20 yards out, senior Erin Budd fired a pass to the back post. Junior Brittany Elliott made a lay-out dive and got her stick on the ball to redirect it into the goal to give Salisbury a 3-0 lead. Middlebury rallied and got one goal back off a penalty corner of its own when Allison Smith received the corner, stopped it, and blasted a shot just inside the circle that was tipped past Ramoundos by senior forward Ashley Pullen to make the score 3-1. Salisbury head coach Dawn Chamberlin said, "We went after it hard and set the tone early. We knew Middlebury was going to score, but we just had to score more." Salisbury did score more and answered right back just over a minute later. Senior Melissa Webster received another penalty corner and passed it to Budd who fired the ball into the cage from 12 yards out to extend the Sea Gull lead back to three goals. SU led 4-1 at halftime. Powell put Salisbury further ahead with 18:57 remaining, when she broke in from the left side. McGillen made a diving stick save but the rebound went right back to Powell, who made no mistake with the second chance to make the score 5-1 in favor of the Sea Gulls. The Panthers refused to quit and rallied back to score two goals within five minutes to pull to within 5-3 with just over 10 minutes remaining. But Powell scored her second of the afternoon, making the score 6-3 with 4:31 remaining, to end any doubt of the outcome. DeLorenzo said, "Getting behind was the difference in the game. We took out two defensive players to score, and we did score. Three goals should be enough to win." The nine goals scored is a record for an NCAA Division III championship game and just one off the record for goals in any tournament game (10), which has happened twice previously. Salisbury also set a record for goals in a tournament with 19 over four games. With the victory, the Sea Gulls completed
a perfect 22-0 season and extended their winning streak to 33 games, dating back
to October 14, 2003.
| ||||||||||||||||
