Eastern University Field Hockey has a lengthy history with Alvernia. For three straight years in the middle of the decade, the two schools met in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Championship Game. While the game is no longer a conference game, the two sides resumed their rivalry this evening after lightning ended last night's attempt just four minutes into the contest. Though the ninth ranked Eagles (7-1) controlled much of the action and dominated the statistical battle, the host Crusaders fought off 30 penalty corners, but Yvonne Herbster converted on Eastern's 31st attempt to earn the 2-1 overtime win.
"I feel like I've aged several years," Eastern Head Coach Camrin Azzarano said after her team completed the 92 minute battle, "Alvernia did a great job defending the corners, but we just kept pounding away and could not make a dent."
Thought the Eagles finished with a 37-8 advantage in total shots, the Crusaders were not without their chances in the contest. In the 33rd minute, Alvernia capitalized on their third and final penalty corner of the opening period to claim a 1-0 lead at the break. Tonya Rutt finished the goal for the hosts.
Eastern began to really dominate play as the second half began, but Alvernia goalie Abby Eby made twelve of her 25 saves in the second frame to fluster the Eastern attack. The Eagles finally drew level on a Kim Campbell strike in the 57th minute. Campbell, one of four Eastern players who played in the 2007 PAC Final, took a pass from Abby Wagner at the stroke line and slammed a ball past Eby for the equalizer.
"I think I dented the backboard with that one," Campbell commented. That strike, however, was all the Eagles could manage against Eby and her fleet of feisty defenders. Eastern had seven penalty corners in the last 13 minutes of regulation, and yet, the game remained tied.
Azzarano cited the toughness of her team, and expressed that they are still learning to be favored in the way that they are. The two-time Freedom Champion Eagles have climbed steadily in the National Rankings over the opening weeks of the year, and that fact will not escape the teams on the rest of the schedule.
The Eagles controlled much of the play in the first overtime, but, as field hockey overtime often does, the game picked up a more back and forth quality and Laura Ressler had to turn away a dangerous turn in the 79th minute. Campbell nearly got the game-winner in the 83rd minute, but Eby was up to the challenge.
Off that attempt, however, the officials awarded the Eagles a penalty stroke. When the stroke went wide, the game went to the second overtime. With Eby 'standing on her head' (to borrow an ice hockey term), there was pressure on the Eastern squad to find resolution before penalty strokes.
Herbster pounded the cage through the period, but when she finally beat Eby with a 92nd minute shot Alvernia defender Sam Landis was in position for a defensive save. The game-winner finally came in the 93rd minute. Brittany Moyer made the pass to start the play. After receiving the insert on a corner, she fed a ball to Christin Haas on the post. Haas played the ball backwards, and Herbster tucked her shot into the lower left corner to lift the Eagles to their sixth straight win.
Eastern starts the defense of their Freedom Conference Championship with a game at Wilkes University on Saturday.
